30 Best Confucius Quotes for Inspiration For Today

Confucius’s teachings and philosophy underpin East Asian culture and society, remaining influential across China and East Asia to this day. He lived between 28 September 551 BC, Lu to 11 April 479 BC, Lu. His full name was Kong Qiu.

1. Time flows away like the water in a river.
2. A man who does not think and plan ahead will find trouble right at his door.
3. If what one has to say is not better than silence, then one should keep silent.
4. Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
5. The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his action.
6. By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
7. As the water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it, a wise man should adapt himself to circumstances.
8. Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
9. The man who asks may be a fool for one day, but the man who never asks will be a fool for life.
10. Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.
11. Not to discuss with a man worthy of conversation is to waste the man. To discuss with a man not worthy of conversation is to waste words. The wise waste neither men nor words.
12. The green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm.
13. Consideration for others is the basis of a good life.
14. If you make a mistake and do not correct it, this is called a mistake.
15. Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
16. When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.
17. Learning without thought is labor lost. Thought without learning is perilous.
18. To go too far is as bad as to fall short.
19. The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.
20. Wherever you go, go with all your heart.
21. He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.
22. Worry not that no one knows you; seek to be worth knowing.
23. When it is obvious that goals cannot be reached, do not adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.
24. We take greater pains to persuade others we are happy than in trying to think so ourselves.
25. Don’t complain about the snow on your neighbor’s roof when your own doorstep is unclean.
26. Humankind differs from the animals only by a little and most people throw that away.
27. A fool despises good counsel, but a wise man takes it to heart.
28. The faults of a superior person are like the sun and moon. They have their faults, and everyone sees them, they change and everyone looks up to them.
29. All good things are difficult to achieve, and all bad things are very easy to get.
30. Things that are done, it is needless to speak about; things that are past, it is needless to blame.
31. Do not worry about holding high position, worry about playing your proper role.
32. Respect yourself and others will respect you.
33. Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?