Quotes About Wisdom

Things that are done, it is needless to speak about; things that have had their course, it is needless to remonstrate about; things that are past, it is needless to blame.

Language is insight itself.

????????,?????????" "Knowing it does not compare with loving it; loving it does not compare with delighting in it.

The Master said, "The gentleman harmonizes [he] without being an echo. The petty man echoes [tong] and does not harmonize.

Listen to all that you can – then, if you forget the deficiencies and speak about the rest cautiously, you avoid trouble. See all that you can – then, if you forget the perilous and act upon the rest cautiously, you'll avoid regret. In speech avoid trouble, in action avoid regret – then rewards will come of themselves.

Is it not indeed a pleasure to acquire knowledge and constantly to exercise oneself therein?

Lord Chi Wen thought three times before taking any action. When the Master heard this, he said: Twice is plenty enough.

The nobler type of man is broad-minded and not prejudiced. The inferior man is prejudiced and not broad-minded.

Am I a man of great wisdom? Hardly! Even when a simple person brings me a question, my mind goes utterly blank, I just thrash it out until I've exhausted every possibility.

Avant d'ouvrir la bouche, assure-toi que ce que tu vas dire est plus beau que le silence.

Adept Lu spent a night at Stone Date, and the gatekeeper asked: Where are you from? From the House of Confucius, replied Lu. Isn't he the one who knows it's hopeless, but keeps trying anyway?

Si vos parents tombent dans une faute, avertissez-les avec grande douceur. Si vous les voyez déterminés à ne pas suivre vos avis, redoublez vos témoignages de respect, sans vous opposer. Quand même ils vous maltraiteraient, n'en ayez aucun ressentiment. 

The superior man, in the world, does not set his mind either for anything, or against anything; what is right he will follow.

Knowing it does not compare with loving it; loving it does not compare with delighting in it.

The Master was entirely free of four faults: arbitrariness, inflexibility, rigidity, and selfishness.

No matter how busy you think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.

Tzu-chang[21] asked whether we can know what is to be ten generations hence. The Master said, The Yin[22] took over the manners of the Hsia; the harm and the good that they did them can be known. The Chou took over the manners of the Yin; the harm and the good that they did them can be known. And we may know what shall be, even an hundred generations hence, whoever follows Chou.

He has not lived in vain who dies the day he is told about the Way

Exige beaucoup de toi-même et attend peu des autres. Beaucoup d'ennuis te seront épargnés.

I do not open up the truth to one who is not eager to get knowledge, nor help out anyone who is not anxious to explain himself. When I have presented one corner of a subject to anyone, and he cannot from it learn the other three, I do not repeat my lesson.

cautiously, you avoid trouble. See all that you can – then, if you forget the perilous and

When the Master entered the great temple he asked about everything. Someone said, 'Who will say that this son of the man of Zou knows about ritual? When he enters the temple, he asks about everything'. The Master heard of it and said, 'This is the ritual'.

We all have two lives, your second one begins when you realize you've only got one.

Give me a few more years so that I am studying at fifty, and surely I may avoid major errors.