Confucianism Quotes

Asian Philosophies SNU Midterm :D

"It is unlikely that one who has grown up as a filial child and respectful younger sibling will be inclined to defy his superiors... filiality and brotherly respect represent the root of humaneness."

1. Youzi, a disciple of Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Filial piety (효孝) and brotherly respect as the root of humaneness (인仁). Respect learned at home grows outward into care for everyone. Example: a child who honors parents and siblings gets used to respecting authority and others, so becomes a person who doesn't rebel or harm society.

Asked why he doesn't participate in government, the Master cited the History: "Filial, oh so filial as a child, a friend to one's siblings... [in this way] exerting an influence upon the government."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Filial piety (효孝) as the foundation of good government. Governing a family well is already part of governing the nation, since every family is part of the nation. Real situation: someone asked Kongzi directly why he wasn't taking part in government, and he answered that being a good child and sibling already influences government.

"Nowadays 'filial' means merely providing parents with nourishment. But even dogs and horses are provided with nourishment. If you do not treat your parents with reverence, wherein lies the difference?"

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Filial piety (효孝): reverence, not just physical care. Kongzi says that feeding your parents is not enough, because even animals get fed. Real situation: Ziyou asked Kongzi about filial piety, and Kongzi told him that what people of his day called "filial" was just providing for parents, which falls short.

"It's your facial expressions that are difficult." (Zixia asks about filial piety; serving food and labor isn't enough.)

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Filial piety (효孝): taking parents' emotions into account. Doing chores and letting elders eat first is the easy part, and the hard part is showing a genuinely warm attitude. Real situation: Zixia asked Kongzi about filial piety, and Kongzi answered that the hard part is the expression on your face, since chores and serving food are not enough.

Meng Wubo asked about filial piety. The Master said, "Your parents are only concerned about your health."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Filial piety (효孝): parents' worry about your well-being. What worries parents most is whether their child is healthy and safe. Real situation: Meng Wubo asked Kongzi about filial piety, and Kongzi told him that the thing parents worry about is his health.

"When your parents are alive, you should not travel far, and when you do travel you must keep to a fixed itinerary."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Filial piety (효孝): sparing parents anxiety. Parents worry when they cannot reach their child, so a filial child keeps them posted. Example: if you study or work far away, you tell your parents where you are going and check in regularly. (Travel was far more dangerous in ancient China.)

Sick, he said "Uncover my feet, uncover my hands [to show they are intact]..." and quoted the Book of Poetry ("as if treading on thin ice").

1. Zengzi, a disciple of Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Filial piety (효孝): preserving the body your parents gave you. He is the extreme case, held up as the epitome of filial piety into the 20th century, even though it goes further than Kongzi's own teaching. Real situation: Zengzi, on his sickbed, called in the disciples of his own school to inspect his hands and feet as proof that he had protected his body his whole life.

"You must always be aware of your parents' age. On the one hand, it is a cause for rejoicing, on the other, a cause of anxiety."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Filial piety (효孝): loving parents as they loved you. Their age is a joy because they have lived long, and a worry because they have less time left. Example: a filial child worries about their parents' well-being the way the parents once worried about theirs.

Zaiwo wants to shorten the three-year mourning period to one year. The Master: "Did Zaiwo also receive three years of affection from his parents?... Zaiwo is not humane!"

1. Kongzi (Confucianism), speaking about his disciple Zaiwo, whom he clearly disapproved of here 2. The Analects 3. Filial piety (효孝) and humaneness (인仁): repaying parental love. A child is held in the parents' arms for about three years, so three years of mourning returns that love. Real situation: Zaiwo proposed shortening the mourning period, and Kongzi asked whether he would feel at ease eating good food and wearing fancy clothes. Zaiwo said yes, so Kongzi told him to do as he liked, then said after Zaiwo left that he was not humane.

"Min Ziqian is so filial! People have nothing to complain about his parents' or his siblings' speech."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Filial piety (효孝): a model of a filial person. Min Ziqian is praised as a child whose family never gave others reason to complain about them. Real situation: Kongzi singled out his disciple Min Ziqian as a model, because even outsiders had no complaints about his parents or siblings.

"When you're with your parents counsel them, but gently. When they don't take your advice, do not stray from respecting them, try harder and do not resent them."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Filial piety (효孝): gentle guidance of parents. A filial child may correct a parent who is wrong, but must stay respectful and not hold a grudge if ignored. Example: if a parent makes a mistake in old age, you point it out kindly and keep trying, rather than shaming or scolding them.

"One who makes no changes to the ways of one's parents for three years after they have passed away may be called filial."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Filial piety (효孝): respect that continues after death. Keeping your parents' ways for three years honors them and parallels the three-year mourning period. Example: you hold off on overturning how your parents ran the household during the mourning period.

Fan Chi asked what humaneness is. The Master said, "To love people."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Humaneness (인仁): valuing life. Humaneness is simply caring about other human beings. Real situation: his disciple Fan Chi asked Kongzi directly what humaneness is, and Kongzi gave a short answer: to love people.

Guanzhong did not die with his lord. The Master: "Lord Huan united the feudal lords nine times but never raised an army. That is Guanzhong's doing. Who can be more humane?"

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Humaneness (인仁): valuing life. Kongzi judges Guanzhong by the lives he saved, since Guanzhong helped unite the lords without war. Real situation: his disciple Zilu challenged him, pointing out that Guanzhong had survived when Prince Jiu was killed and asking whether that made him inhumane, and Kongzi defended Guanzhong.

"Do not impose upon others what you yourself do not desire. In this way you will encounter no resentment in your state or in your family."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Humaneness (인仁) as empathy, expressed through compassion (恕). Imagine how you would feel in the other person's place before acting. Real situation: Zhong Gong asked Kongzi about humaneness, and Kongzi answered with this principle and its payoff, that nobody will resent you in your state or your family.

"One who is humane tackles difficult tasks before others, but takes the rewards after others."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Humaneness (인仁) as empathy and selflessness. A humane person takes on the hardest work first and lets others be rewarded first. Real situation: Fan Chi asked Kongzi about humaneness again, and this was Kongzi's answer.

"Desiring to take a stand, one who is humane helps others to take their stand; wanting to realize himself, he helps others to realize themselves."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Humaneness (인仁) as empathy. What you want for yourself, you also help others obtain, using what is near at hand (your own wishes) as the example. Example: if you want to succeed in your career, you mentor others so they can succeed too.

"A scholar should be filial toward his parents when at home and respectful toward his elders when abroad... if he has energy to spare, he should devote it to study of the cultural arts."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Humaneness (인仁): empathy begins at home. Practice caring for the people closest to you first, then extend it outward, and study comes after. Example: a student treats parents and neighbors respectfully before worrying about learning refined arts.

"In everyday life be courteous, when addressing your work be reverent, when with other people be earnest."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Humaneness (인仁) linked to earnestness (忠). Humaneness shows up in daily manners, a serious attitude toward work, and sincerity with others. Real situation: Fan Chi asked Kongzi about humaneness a third time, and Kongzi answered with these three everyday behaviors.

Zigong asked for one teaching to guide one's entire life. The Master: "Is it not compassion? Do not impose upon others what you yourself do not desire."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Compassion (恕) as the guiding principle of humaneness (인仁). If one word could guide a whole life, it is considering how others feel. Real situation: his disciple Zigong asked whether a single teaching could guide a whole life, and Kongzi gave him this one.

Kongzi said "All that I teach is unified by one guiding principle." Zengzi replied: "All of what the Master teaches amounts to nothing more than earnestness and compassion."

1. Zengzi, explaining Kongzi's teaching (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Earnestness (忠) and compassion (恕) as the unifying principle of humaneness (인仁). Earnestness is sincere, wholehearted effort, and compassion is not imposing on others what you would not want. Real situation: Kongzi called to his disciple Zengzi and told him his teaching has one thread, and Zengzi was the one who named the thread.

"When native substance overwhelms cultural refinement, the result is a crude rustic. When cultural refinement overwhelms native substance, the result is a foppish pedant. Only when both are brilliant do you have an exemplary person."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자/gunja): excelling in both inner and outer qualities. Inner substance (sincerity, character) needs outer refinement (manners, learning) to be balanced. Example: someone who is honest but rude is a crude rustic, and someone who is polished but insincere is a foppish pedant.

"If an exemplary person does not seek fullness when she eats, does not seek comfort when she sleeps; is quick in action and prudent in speech... one may say she loves to learn."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자): not obsessed with wealth or comfort, and devoted to learning. Her focus is on the Way instead of luxury, and Kongzi says this shows love of learning. Example: a student who skips fancy meals and comfortable living to focus on study and acting rightly.

"The exemplary person pursues the Way and does not pursue food... worries about the way and not about poverty."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자): not obsessed with wealth. He cares about living by the Way (moral path), not about income or hunger. Example: a scholar who studies to become a better person even though it may not make him rich.

"Wealth and high position are what people want, but if not gained through proper ways, do not reside in them... The exemplary person does not stray from humaneness even while eating."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자): not obsessed with wealth, and committed to humaneness (인仁) at all times. Wealth and status are acceptable only if gained properly, and poverty is not worth escaping by improper means. Example: refusing a high-paying job that requires cheating, and staying humane even in a moment of stumbling.

"I have heard that the exemplary person helps out those in dire need and does not help the rich continue their wealth."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자): caring for the underprivileged. Generosity should go to people who truly need it, not to those who are already wealthy. Real situation: Kongzi refused to pay a big sum to a pupil going abroad on his behalf (the slide notes the pupil got paid anyway), pointing out that the pupil already rode a fat horse and wore high-quality leather.

Wenxi became a minister. Confucius handed him 900 bushels of grain; he refused. "Stop! Take them and give them to your villagers and neighbors!"

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자): caring for the underprivileged and sharing wealth. A person with a salary should pass surplus to those around him instead of hoarding it. Real situation: Kongzi tried to give the new minister Wenxi 900 bushels of grain, and when Wenxi refused, Kongzi told him to give it to his villagers and neighbors.

"For all under heaven, the exemplary person has no absolute wishes, no absolute avoidances; he just follows what is righteous."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자): flexibility, guided by righteousness (義). He has no fixed rules about what he must always do or never do, and decides by what is right in the situation. Example: he adapts to circumstances, taking a job or declining it based on whether it is righteous, not on rigid habit.

There are four things Confucius never did: be inflexible about his will, his action, his opinion, and his sense of self.

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자): flexibility. Kongzi did not cling stubbornly to his plans, actions, views, or ego. Example: when a better argument comes along, he changes his mind instead of defending his pride.

"The exemplary person does not become a specific vessel."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자): flexibility and the ability to supervise. A vessel is a tool with one fixed use, and the exemplary person is not limited to one narrow function. Example: a good leader understands the whole picture and uses different people's skills instead of acting as a one-skill specialist.

"The exemplary person is harmonious but not identical; the petty person seeks to be identical but not harmonious."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자) as supervisor: harmony without conformity. The exemplary person gets along with others and welcomes different views, but keeps his own judgment instead of just agreeing with everyone. Example: a good leader listens to disagreement and still decides on principle, while a petty person copies the crowd to fit in.

"The exemplary person oversees everything and does not imitate; the petty person imitates and does not oversee everything."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자) as supervisor. He takes responsibility for seeing the whole situation and decides for himself, instead of copying others. Example: a manager who understands how every part of the team fits together, versus an employee who just imitates what others do.

"The exemplary person contemplates virtue, the petty person contemplates the land... the gentleman contemplates legal penalty, the petty man contemplates favor."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자) as selfless person. His thoughts are about moral character, while a petty person thinks about property and personal gain. Example: when making a decision, the exemplary person asks what is virtuous, and the petty person asks what he will get out of it.

"The generosity of the exemplary person is like the wide river; a petty person mourns his/her loss for a long time."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자) as selfless person: generosity. His generosity is broad and flowing like a wide river, so he does not dwell on what he gave up. Example: he lends money or time to others without brooding over it, while a petty person grieves over every small loss.

"The exemplary person finds enlightenment with righteousness, the petty person finds enlightenment with profit."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자) as selfless person: righteousness (義) over profit. He understands things by asking what is right, while a petty person understands things by asking what pays. Example: faced with a business deal, the exemplary person first asks whether it is right, and only then considers whether it is profitable.

"The virtue of the exemplary person is as the wind, and the virtue of the petty person is as the grass. If the wind blows over the grass, they bend without fail."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자) as morally responsible: leading by example. A ruler's goodness bends people toward goodness like wind bends grass. Real situation: Jikangzi, a powerful official, asked Kongzi about governing and suggested killing those who disobey the Way, and Kongzi answered that if he wanted the people to be good, he should be good himself.

"The exemplary person seeks from oneself, the petty person seeks from others."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자) as morally responsible: self-accountability. He looks for the cause of problems and the solution within himself, instead of blaming or relying on others. Example: when a project fails, he first asks what he could have done better, while a petty person blames teammates.

"To rule is to correct. If you lead by being correct yourself, who dare refuse to correct their own behavior?"

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자): moral leadership. The ruler's job is to correct people, and the only way to do that is to be correct himself first. This is part of Kongzi's view on social rank and inequality: higher rank means greater moral responsibility, not just more privilege. Real situation: Jikangzi asked Kongzi about ruling, and Kongzi turned the question back on Jikangzi, telling him to start by correcting himself.

Jikangzi worried about thieves. "If you have less greed, people will not steal even if you were to put a prize on it."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자): moral leadership through self-restraint. Kongzi blames the ruler's greed, not the thieves, for crime. It ties to social rank and inequality, since the powerful carry responsibility for the behavior of those below them. Real situation: Jikangzi asked how to deal with thieves, and Kongzi told him that if he were less greedy himself, people would not steal.

"If you are good to your parents and your elders, they will become truthful; if you employ the good and teach those who aren't, they will be inclined to learn."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자): moral leadership that models filial piety (효孝). A ruler who respects his own parents and elders teaches the people to be truthful, and rewarding the good while teaching the rest makes them want to learn. This connects to Kongzi's view on social rank and inequality, where those on top shape those below. Real situation: Jikangzi asked how to make his people respectful, truthful, and eager to learn, and Kongzi told him it starts with his own conduct and who he promotes.

Confucius wanted to live among the barbarians. "If an exemplary person resides among them, how could there be crudeness?"

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자) as influential person. Kongzi believes an exemplary person's character changes the environment around him. Real situation: Kongzi said he wanted to leave for the land of the "barbarians," and when someone asked how he would handle their crudeness, he answered with this.

"When an exemplary person walks past, it was like the eclipse of the sun or the moon. When they go away, everyone looks towards it."

1. Zigong, a disciple of Kongzi, speaking about Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자) as influential person. Everyone notices and admires an exemplary person, like the sun and moon being watched during an eclipse, and people look up to him again when he returns. Real situation: Zigong said this about Kongzi, whose influence he had seen in person as a disciple.

"The gentleman completes others' virtues and does not complete their flaws. With the petty man, it is the opposite."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자) as virtuous person. He helps bring out the best in others instead of feeding their faults. Example: he encourages a friend's honesty and kindness, while a petty person would encourage a friend's bad habits or enjoy their failures.

"The gentleman is easy to serve but difficult to please... employs you according to your vessel. The petty man is difficult to serve but easy to please."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자) as virtuous person. He is not pleased by flattery or improper favors, and he assigns people tasks that fit their abilities. Example: a good boss gives you work suited to your skills and cannot be bribed, while a petty boss demands you do everything but is happy to be flattered.

"The gentleman is magnanimous but not haughty, the petty man is haughty but not magnanimous."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자) as virtuous person: magnanimity. He is generous in spirit and stays humble, while a petty person is arrogant and stingy. Example: a successful person who forgives small offenses and still treats everyone with modesty.

"There are those who are gentleman but are not humane, but there have never been those who are petty man but are humane."

1. Kongzi (Confucianism) 2. The Analects 3. Exemplary person (군자) as virtuous person, and humaneness (인仁). Even an exemplary person can occasionally fall short of humaneness, but a petty person can never be humane. Example: a well-regarded scholar might act coldly once in a while, but someone who is truly petty and selfish cannot practice real care for others.