Confucius Quotes

On matters beyond his ken a gentleman speaks with caution. If names are not right, words are misused. When words are misused, affairs go wrong. When affairs go wrong, courtesy and music droop, law and justice fail. And when law and justice fail them, a people can move neither hand nor foot. So a gentleman must be ready to put names in speech, to put words into deeds. A gentleman is nowise careless of words.

 

I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.

Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.

When you say something, say what you know. When you don't know something, say you don't know. That is knowledge.

The general of a large army may be defeated, but you cannot defeat the determined mind of a peasant.  

The whole end of speech is to be understood.