Yan Yuan Quotes on Virtue
Yan Yuan, known as Yan Xizhai, was a Chinese Confucian philosopher of the early Qing dynasty and a sharp critic of the Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucian establishment of his time. This page collects quotes attributed to Yan Yuan on the topic of virtue, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
-
Attributed to Yan Yuan:
“Sitting in quiet meditation is not yet the work of a Confucian; the work is in the practice of the six arts.”
-
Attributed to Yan Yuan:
“Books are servants of practice; when they take the place of practice, they have ceased to be books in any useful sense.”
-
Attributed to Yan Yuan:
“What we cannot do, we cannot rightly understand.”
-
Attributed to Yan Yuan:
“The sage Confucius taught archery before he taught metaphysics; we should learn from his order.”