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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.

-Confucius

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On Matters Beyond His

Confucius

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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.

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If You Try To Do Too Much, You Will Not Achieve Anything.

The Superior Man Is Aware Of Righteousness, The Inferior Man Is Aware Of Advantage.

Knowledge Is Recognizing What You Know And What You Don't.

Certain Knowledge

The Nobler Sort Of Man Emphasizes The Good Qualities In Others, And Does Not Accentuate The Bad. The Inferior Does The Reverse. . . . The Nobler Sort Of Man Pays Special Attention To Nine Points. He Is Anxious To See Clearly, To Hear Distinctly, To Be Kindly In His Looks, Respectful In His Demeanor, Conscientious In His Speech, Earnest In His Affairs. When In Doubt, He Is Careful To Inquire; When In Anger, He Thinks Of The Consequences; When Offered An Opportunity For Gain, He Thinks Only Of His Duty.

If You Yourself Desire Establishment, Then Help Others To Get Establishment; If You Yourself Want Success, Then Help Others To Attain Success.

Think No Vice So Small That You May Commit It, And No Virtue So Small That You May Over Look It.

Real Knowledge Is To Know The Extent Of One's Ignorance.

Have No Friends Not Equal To Yourself.

Love Is Like A Spice. It Can Sweeten Your Life - However, It Can Spoil It, Too.

Which Demands A Lot Of Himself And Some Others, Will Be Free From Hatred.

Gravity Is Only The Bark Of Wisdom's Tree, But It Preserves It.

True Knowledge Is When One Knows The Limitations Of One's Knowledge.

We Should Feel Sorrow, But Not Sink Under Its Oppression.

It Cannot Be When The Root Is Neglected That What Springs From It Will Be Well Ordered.

We Can Know A Person By Observing His Behaviour, Understanding The Reasons For His Actions And Ascertaining His Intentions. If We Do This, How Can We Not Know Him?

If Either Wealth Or Poverty Are Come By Honesty, There Is No Shame.

The Cautious Seldom Err.

The Book Salesman Should Be Honored Because He Brings To Our Attention, As A Rule, The Very Books We Need Most And Neglect Most.

Don’t Complain About The Snow On Your Neighbor’s Roof When Your Own Doorstep Is Unclean.

The Firm, The Enduring, The Simple, And The Modest Are Near To Virtue.

The Superior Man Is Slow In His Words And Earnest In His Conduct.

Girl Who Sit On Judge's Lap Get Honorable Discharge.

Settle One Difficulty, And You Keep A Hundred Away.

See A Person's Means ... Observe His Motives. Examine That In Which He Rests. How Can A Person Conceal His Character?

I Do Not Enlighten Those Who Are Not Eager To Learn, Nor Arouse Those Who Are Not Anxious To Give An Explanation Themselves. If I Have Presented One Corner Of The Square And They Cannot Come Back To Me With The Other Three, I Should Not Go Over The Points Again.

For One Word A Man Is Often Deemed To Be Wise, And For One Word He Is Often Deemed To Be Foolish. We Should Be Careful Indeed What We Say.

Death And Life Have Their Determined Appointments; Riches And Honors Depend Upon Heaven.

The Real Fault Is To Have Faults And Not Amend Them.

A Gentleman Does Not Promote A Man On Account Of What He Says; Nor Does He Reject Sayings, Because The Speaker Is What He Is.

The Superior Man Cannot Be Known In Little Matters, But He May Be Entrusted With Great Concerns. The Small Man May Not Be Entrusted With Great Concerns, But He May Be Known In Little Matters.

Among The Appliances To Transform The People, Sound And Appearances Are But Trivial Influences.

To Learn Without Thinking Is Labour In Vain, To Think Without Learning Is Desolation.

I Am Not An Originator But A Transmitter.

It Is The Obligation Of The Ruler To Continually Renew Himself In Order To Renew The People By His Example.

The Wise Man Delights In Water, The Good Man Delights In Mountains. For The Wise Move; But The Good Stay Still. The Wise Are Happy; But The Good Secure.

If You Don't Know How To Live, Why Wonder About Death?

The Gentleman Has Nine Cares. In Seeing He Is Careful To See Clearly; In Hearing He Is Careful To Hear Distinctly; In His Looks He Is Careful To Be Kind, In His Manner To Be Respectful, In His Words To Be Sincere, In His Work To Be Diligent. When In Doubt He Is Careful To Ask For Information; When Angry He Has A Care For The Consequences; And When He Sees A Chance For Gain, He Thinks Carefully Whether The Pursuits Of It Would Be Right.

The Noble-minded Are Calm And Steady. Little People Are Forever Fussing And Fretting.

A Superior Man In Dealing With The World Is Not For Anything Or Against Anything. He Follows Righteousness As The Standard.

All Men Are Born Good.

The Man Of Wisdom Is Never Of Two Minds; The Man Of Benevolence Never Worries; The Man Of Courage Is Never Afraid.

He Who Learns But Does Not Think, Is Lost! He Who Thinks But Does Not Learn Is In Great Danger... Men Of Superior Mind Busy Themselves First Getting At The Root Of Things; When They Succeed, The Right Course Is Open To Them.

In A Country Well Governed, Poverty Is Something To Be Ashamed Of. In A Country Badly Governed, Wealth Is Something To Be Ashamed Of.

Countries Of The World

Virtue Is Not Solitary; It Is Bound To Have Neighbors

To Be Fond Of Learning Is Near To Wisdom; To Practice With Vigor Is Near To Benevolence; And To Be Conscious Of Shame Is Near To Fortitude.

A Picture Is Poem Without Words.

Thought, Unassisted By Learning, Is Dangerous.

When Wealth Is Centralized, The People Are Dispersed. When Wealth Is Distributed, The People Are Brought Together.

He Who Take Cookie To Bed Have Crummy Night Ahead.

There Has Never Been A Man Mean And At The Same Time Virtuous.

The Sun And Moon Shine On All Without Partiality.

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I Hear And I Forget. I See And I Remember. I Do And I Understand.

You Judge Yourself By What You Think You Can Achieve, Others Judge You By What Have Achieved.

Attack The Evil That Is Within Yourself, Rather Than Attacking The Evil That Is In Others.

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Whatever Heaven Ordains Is Best.

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Knowing What's Correct And Not Doing It, It's The Worst Cowardice.

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Be In Harmony, Yet Be Different.

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Study The Past, If You Would Divine The Future.

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I Used To Take On Trust A Man's Deeds After Having Listened To His Words. Now Having Listened To A Man's Words I Go On To Observe His Deeds.

Learning, Undigested By Thought, Is Labor Lost.

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The Gentleman Sees What Is Right While The Small Man Sees What Is Profitable.

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Plan Ahead Or Find Trouble On The Doorstep.

Does Heaven Ever Speak? The Four Seasons Come And Go, And All Creatures Thrive And Grow. Does Heaven Ever Speak!

If A Man Keeps Cherishing His Old Knowledge So As Continually To Be Acquiring New, He May Be A Teacher Of Others.

It's Only In Winter That The Pine And Cypress Are Known To Be Evergreens.

Let Every Man Consider Virtue As What Devolves On Himself. He May Not Yield The Performance Of It Even To His Teacher.

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I Do Not Want A Friend Who Smiles When I Smile, Who Weeps When I Weep; For My Shadow In The Pool Can Do Better Than That.

Excess Weakens The Spirits.

Time Flows Away Like The Water In The River.

It Is Easy To Hate And It Is Difficult To Love. This Is How The Whole Scheme Of Things Works. All Good Things Are Difficult To Achieve; And Bad Things Are Very Easy To Get.

Missing Someone

Better A Diamond With A Flaw Than A Pebble Without.

If Proper In Their Own Conduct, What Difficulty Would They Have In Governing? But If Not Able To Be Proper In Their Own Conduct, How Can They Demand Such Conduct From Others?

The Master Was Entirely Free From Four Things: Prejudice, Foregone Conclusions, Obstinacy, And Egoism.

The Demands That Good People Make Are Upon Themselves; Those That Bad People Make Are Upon Others.

Only By Perfect Virtue Can The Perfect Path, In All Its Courses, Be Made A Fact.

A Gentleman Considers What Is Right; The Vulgar Consider What Will Pay.

When Frying Small Fish, Disturb Them Little.

A Man Without Persistence Will Never Make A Good Shaman Or A Good Physician.

Learn, As If Never Overtaking Your Object, And Yet As If Apprehensive Of Losing It.

It Is Better To Light One Small Candle Of Gratitude Than To Curse The Darkness.

Surely It Is The Maxim Of Loving-kindness: Do Not Unto Others That You Would Not Have Them Do Unto You.

Loving Kindness

The Superior Man, Even When He Is Not Moving, Has A Feeling Of Reverence, And While He Speaks Not, He Has The Feeling Of Truthfulness.

The General Of A Large Army May Be Defeated, But You Cannot Defeat The Determined Mind Of A Peasant.

There Are Three Marks Of A Superior Man: Being Virtuous, He Is Free From Anxiety; Being Wise, He Is Free From Perplexity; Being Brave, He Is Free From Fear.

Learning Without Thought Is Labour Lost.

There Is Only One Thing In Life Which Never Changes, And It Is Change.

It Is Better To Play Than Do Nothing.

Wisdom Delights In Water; Love Delights In Hills. Wisdom Is Stirring; Love Is Quiet. Wisdom Is Merry; Love Grows Old.

There Are Three Things Which The Superior Man Guards Against. In Youth ... Lust. When He Is Strong ... Quarrelsomeness. When He Is Old ... Covetousness.

The Shortest Distance Between Any Two Points On A Golf Course Is A Straight Line That Passes Directly Through The Center Of A Very Large Tree.

He Who Is Harmony With Nature Hits The Mark Without Effort And Apprehends The Truth Without Thinking.

It Is Better To Live In Peace Than In Bitterness And Strife

You Can Successfully Force People To Follow A Certain Course, But You Cannot Force Them To Understand It.

Excess And Deficiency Are Equally At Fault.

By Nature, Men Are Nearly Alike; By Practice, They Get To Be Wide Apart.

An Image Is Better Than One Thousand Words

When A Man Feels The Difficulty Of Doing, Can He Be Other Than Cautious And Slow In Speaking?

He Who Merely Knows Right Principles Is Not Equal To Him Who Loves Them.

The Whole End Of Speech Is To Be Understood.

Sincerity Is The End And Beginning Of Things; Without Sincerity There Would Be Nothing.

The Path May Not Be Left For An Instant. If It Could Be Left, It Would Not Be The Path.

True Goodness Springs From A Man's Own Heart. All Men Are Born Good.

The Archer Who Misses His Mark Does Not Blame The Target. He Stops, Corrects Himself And Shoots Again.

If A Man Withdraws His Mind From The Love Of Beauty, And Applies It As Sincerely To The Love Of The Virtuous; If, In Serving His Parents, He Can Exert His Utmost Strength; If, In Serving His Prince, He Can Devote His Life; If In His Intercourse With His Friends, His Words Are Sincere - Although Men Say That He Has Not Learned, I Will Certainly Say That He Has.

Never Contract Friendship With A Man That Is Not Better Than Thyself.

Make Fair Agreements And Stick To Them

What You Do Not Want Done To Yourself, Do Not Do To Others.

What The Wise Seek Is In Themselves

They Must Often Change, Who Would Be Constant In Happiness Or Wisdom.

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.

An Inconvenience Is An Unrecognized Opportunity.

Be Loyal And Trustworthy. Do Not Befriend Anyone Who Is Lower Than Yourself In This Regard.

From The Loving Example Of One Family A Whole State May Become Loving, And From Its Courtesies, Courteous; While From The Ambition And Perverseness Of The One Man The Whole State May Be Thrown Into Rebellious Disorder. Such Is The Nature Of Influence.

There Is Nothing More Visible Than What Is Secret, And Nothing More Manifest Than What Is Minute.

Without Goodness One Cannot Enjoy Enduring Happiness

Without Feelings Of Respect, What Is There To Distinguish Men From Beasts?

Study The Past If You Would Define The Future. 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. Learning Without Thought Is Labor Lost; Thought Without Learning Is Perilous.

I Am Not Bothered By The Fact That I Am Not Understood. I Am Bothered When I Do Not Know Others.

Heaven Gives Long Life To The Just And The Intelligent.

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.

She Who Is Born With Beauty Is Born With A Sorrow For Many A Man.

Men Of Principle Are Sure To Be Bold, But Those Who Are Bold May Not Always Be Men Of Principle.

If You Chase Two Rabbits, You Catch None.

When Words Lose Their Meaning, People Lose Their Liberty.

The Wise Men Of Antiquity, When They Wished To Make The Whole World Peaceful And Happy, First Put Their Own States Into Proper Order. Before Putting Their States Into Proper Order, They Regulated Their Own Families. Before Regulating Their Families, They Regulated Themselves. Before Regulating Themselves, They Tried To Be Sincere In Their Thoughts. Before Being Sincere In Their Thoughts, They Tried To See Things Exactly As They Really Were.

The Green Reed Which Bends In The Wind Is Stronger Than The Mighty Oak Which Breaks In A Storm.

A Man Without A Mustache Is A Man Without A Soul.

A Good Man Does Not Make A Warrior, Just As Good Steel Does Not Go For Nails.

If Names Are Not Correct, Then Language Is Not In Accord With The Truth Of Things. If Language Is Not In Accord With The Truth Of Things, Then Affairs Cannot Be Carried Out Successfully.

Even Four Harnessed Horses Cannot Bring Imprudent Words Back Into The Mouth.

When A Nation Or Family Is About To Flourish, There Are Sure To Be Happy Omens; And When It Is About To Perish, There Are Sure To Be Unlucky Omens.

Great As Heaven And Earth Are, Men Still Find Some Things In Them With Which To Be Dissatisfied. Thus It Is That, Were The Superior Man To Speak Of His Way In All Its Greatness, Nothing In The World Would Be Found Able To Embrace It, And Were He To Speak Of It In Its Minuteness, Nothing In The World Would Be Found Able To Split It.

Eat At Your Own As You Would The Table Of A King.

There Are Three Things Against Which The Wise Man Guards: Lust When Young, Quarrels When Strong, And Covetousness When Old.

Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself: Do Not Do To Others What Thou Wouldst Not Wish Be Done To Thyself: Forgive Injuries. Forgive Thy Enemy, Be Reconciled To Him, Give Him Assistance, Invoke God In His Behalf.

To Study And At Times Practice What One Has Learned, Is This Not A Pleasure?

Behave When Away From Home As Though You Were In The Presence Of An Honored Guest. Employ The People As Though You Were Assisting At An Important Sacrifice. Do Not Do To Others What You Would Not Like Yourself. Then There Will Be No Feelings Of Opposition To You, Whether It Is The Affairs Of A State That You Are Handling Or The Affairs Of A Family.

Hold Faithfulness And Sincerity As First Principles.

Rather Than Caring About Whether Or Not You Are Known, Strive To Be Worth Knowing.

A Gentleman Can Withstand Hardships; It Is Only The Small Man Who, When Submitted To Them, Is Swept Off His Feet.

Let Mourning Stop When One's Grief Is Fully Expressed.

The Will To Win, The Desire To Succeed, The Urge To Reach Your Full Potential... These Are The Keys That Will Unlock The Door To Personal Excellence.

When A Person Should Be Spoken With, And You Don't Speak With Them, You Lose Them. When A Person Shouldn't Be Spoken With And You Speak To Them, You Waste Your Breath. The Wise Do Not Lose People, Nor Do They Waste Their Breath.

Unify Your Attention. Do Not Listen With Your Ears, But With Your Mind. Do Not Listen With Your Mind But With Your Essence.

There Are Three Friendships Which Are Advantageous, And Three Which Are Injurious. Friendship With The Upright; Friendship With The Sincere; And Friendship With The Man Of Much Observation: These Are Advantageous. Friendship With The Man Of Specious Airs; Friendship With The Insinuatingly Soft; And Friendship With The Glib-tongued: These Are Injurious.

The Chase Of Gain Is Rich In Hate

Never Overlook Wallflower At Dance; May Be Dandelion In Grass.

The Superior Man, When Resting In Safety, Does Not Forget That Danger May Come. When In A State Of Security He Does Not Forget The Possibility Of Ruin. When All Is Orderly, He Does Not Forget That Disorder May Come. Thus His Person Is Not Endangered, And His States And All Their Clans Are Preserved.

A Man May Not Transgress The Bounds Of Major Morals, But May Make Errors In Minor Morals.

When You See A Good Person, Think Of Becoming Like Her/him. When You See Someone Not So Good, Reflect On Your Own Weak Points.

Excessive (population) Growth May Reduce Output Per Worker, Repress Levels Of Living For The Masses And Engender Strife

A Lion Chased Me Up A Tree, And I Greatly Enjoyed The View From The Top.

The Master Said, I Set My Heart On The Way, Base Myself On Virtue, Lean Upon Benevolence For Support And Take My Recreation In The Arts.

Is There Any One Maxim Which Ought To Be Acted Upon Throughout One's Whole Life? Surely The Maxim Of Loving Kindness Is Such: Do Not Unto Others What You Would Not They Should Do Unto You.

When Superiors Are Fond Of Showing Their Humanity, Inferiors Try To Outstrip One Another In Their Practice Of It.

The One Who Was Born A Genius Can't Win Against The One Who Tries, And The One Who Tries Can't Win Against The One Who Enjoys.

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