Confucius 551 BC – 479 BC
Confucius was a Chinese philosopher and political teacher of the Spring and Autumn period. His teachings, recorded by disciples in the Analects, emphasize personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, and sincerity. He stressed the cultivation of ren, or humaneness, through ritual propriety and filial piety. Though largely unsuccessful as a political adviser in his lifetime, his ideas became state orthodoxy in imperial China and shaped East Asian civilization. Confucianism remains a defining current of Chinese thought.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Chinese
- Era
- Ancient
- Movements
- Confucianism
Selected quotes
-
Attributed to Confucius:
“Do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself.”
-
Attributed to Confucius:
“Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous.”
-
Attributed to Confucius:
“When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it — this is knowledge.”
-
Attributed to Confucius:
“The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.”
-
Attributed to Confucius:
“At fifteen I had my mind bent on learning. At thirty I stood firm. At forty I had no doubts. At fifty I knew the decrees of Heaven. At sixty my ear was an obedient organ for the reception of truth. At seventy I could follow what my heart desired, without transgressing what was right.”
Quotes that are not actually from Confucius
These lines are widely circulated as Confucius, but they do not appear in Confucius's works. Each entry below identifies the actual source.
-
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
This line appears in Oliver Goldsmith's 1762 book The Citizen of the World. Goldsmith himself prefaced it with the phrase 'as the Chinese say,' which appears to have seeded the long-running misattribution to Confucius. The line does not appear in the Analects or any other Confucian classic.
-
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
This saying does not appear in the Analects or any classical Confucian text. Its earliest verifiable English-language appearances are from the 20th century, and no Chinese-language original has been identified.
-
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
This sentence does not appear in the Analects. Its earliest verifiable English-language attestations date to the late 20th century. It is variously attributed to Confucius, Mark Twain, and others, but no original source has been confirmed for any of these attributions.