Analects-2 — Chapter 1

The Master said, "If you govern with the power of your virtue, you will be like the North Star. It just stays in its place while all the other stars position themselves around it."

The Master said, "The three hundred poems in the Book of Odes can be summed up in one phrase: Think no evil."

The Master said, "If you lead the people with government regulations and organize them with penal law, they will avoid wrongdoing but will have no sense of honor or shame. If you lead them with virtue and organize them through proper conduct, they will have a sense of shame and will correct themselves."

The Master said, "At fifteen, I set my heart on 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 a docile ear. At seventy, I could follow the dictates of my own heart, without transgressing the right."

Meng Yi Tzu asked about filial piety. The Master said, "Never disobey." When Fan Chi was driving for the Master, he told him, "Meng asked me about filial piety, and I said, Never disobey." Fan Chi said, "What did you mean?" The Master said, "While parents are alive, serve them according to the rules of propriety. When they die, bury them according to the rules of propriety and sacrifice to them according to the rules of propriety."

The Master said, "I can talk with Hui for a whole day without his disagreeing with me in any way, as if he were stupid. But when he retires and I examine his private conduct, I find that it fully illustrates my teachings. Hui is not stupid at all!"

The Master said, "If you study the past and use it to understand the present, you are worthy of being a teacher."

The Master said, "The gentleman is not a utensil."

The Master said, "To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous."

The Master said, "To devote oneself to strange principles is decidedly harmful."

The Master said, "Shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to recognize that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to recognize that you do not know it. That is knowledge."