Confucius Quotes on Justice
Confucius grounded justice in a reciprocal moral relation between persons, and the quotes gathered here express it. His version of the golden rule states the principle negatively: do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself. Confucius also addressed the just response to wrongdoing, rejecting both vengeance and indiscriminate forgiveness in favour of measured fairness, counselling that one recompense injury with justice and recompense kindness with kindness. He held that even desirable goods such as wealth and honour must be refused if they cannot be obtained in the proper way. Drawn largely from the Analects, these passages present justice as a matter of reciprocity, proportion, and the refusal of any advantage gained by improper means.
Quotes
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“Do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself.”
己所不欲，勿施於人 -
Attributed to Confucius:
“Riches and honours are what men desire. If they cannot be obtained in the proper way, they should not be held.”
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“Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.”
以直報怨，以德報德。 -
“The superior man, extensively studying all learning, and keeping himself under the restraint of the rules of propriety, may thus likewise not overstep what is right.”
Analects -
“The superior man has neither anxiety nor fear. When internal examination discovers nothing wrong, what is there to be anxious about, what is there to fear?”
Analects | IV -
“The superior man governs men, according to their nature, with what is proper to them, and as soon as they change what is wrong, he stops.”
The Doctrine of the Mean