Confucius

Things have their roots and branches. Affairs have their beginnings and their ends. To know what is first and what is last will lead one near the Way.

You will never know how sharp a sword is unless it's drawn from its sheath

Tzu Chang asked Confucius about jen. Confucius said, "If you can practice these five things with all the people, you can be called jen." Tzu Chang asked what they were. Confucius said, "Courtesy, generosity, honesty, persistence, and kindness. If you are courteous, you will not be disrespected; if you are generous, you will gain everything. If you are honest, people will rely on you. If you are persistent you will get results. If you are kind, you can employ people.

If there were an honorable way to get rich, I’d do it, even if it meant being a stooge standing around with a whip. But there isn’t an honorable way, so I just do what I like.

The noble-minded are calm and steady. Little people are forever fussing and fretting.

In his dealings with the world, the gentleman is not invariably for or against anything. He is on the side of what is moral.

The Master said, At fifteen I set my heart upon learning. At thirty, I had planted my feet firm upon the ground. At forty, I no longer suffered from perplexities. At fifty, I knew what were the biddings of Heaven. At sixty, I heard them with docile ear. At seventy, I could follow the dictates of my own heart; for what I desired no longer overstepped the boundaries of righ.

If there were one word that could act as a standard of conduct for one's entire life, perhaps it would be 'thoughtfulness.

The green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm.

Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.

Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know more.

The Master said, The case is like that of someone raising a mound. If he stops working, the fact that it perhaps needed only one more basketful makes no difference; I stay where I am. Whereas even if he has not got beyond leveling the ground, but is still at work, the fact that he has only tilted one basketful of earth makes no difference. I go to help him.

Some are born with knowledge, some derive it from study, and some acquire it only after a painful realization of their ignorance. But the knowledge being possessed, it comes to the same thing. Some study with a natural ease, some from a desire for advantages, and some by strenuous effort. But the achievement being made, it comes to the same thing.

The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name.

People with virtue must speak out; People who speak are not all virtuous.

A man of humanity is one who, in seeking to establish himself, finds a foothold for others and who, in desiring attaining himself, helps others to attain.

The nobler sort of man emphasizes the good qualities in others, and does not accentuate the bad. The inferior does.