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Confucianism Quotes

Browse 105 quotes about Confucianism.

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Confucianism Quotes

“Hara hachi bu is a Confucian principle, popular in Japan since medieval times, that you should eat until you are only eight-tenths full. This principle has since been given backing by nutrition scientists who note that when we eat there is a time delay between the body receiving the food and the brain registering that we are full. When the urge comes to have a second helping, it’s worth waiting twenty minutes, and the feeling may pass.”

CultureFoodJapanFood WritingConfucianism
Book:First Bite: How We Learn to Eat
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“Confucian traditions teach that all beings stem from one source, the Great Ultimate, and participate in the Great Unity. Ren (love or benevolence) is the essence of all that is good in humanity, and extends across species, as exemplified in the noble person (junzi).”

BenevolenceConfucianismChinese PhilosophyAnymalsAnimals And ReligionReligion And AnimalsReligion And EthicsRespect For NatureRespect For Animals
Book:Animals and World Religions
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“If religion is about the sacred as opposed to the profane, the spirit as opposed to matter, the Creator as opposed to the created, Confucianism plainly does not qualify. But perhaps what we are to learn from this tradition is not that Confucianism is not a religion but that not all religious people parse the sacred and the secular the way Christians do.”

ReligionSpiritualityChristianityConfucianism
Book:God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter
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“The House of the Venerable and Inscrutable Colonel was what they called it when they were speaking Chinese. Venerable because of his goatee, white as the dogwood blossom, a badge of unimpeachable credibility in Confucian eyes. Inscrutable because he had gone to his grave without divulging the Secret of the Eleven Herbs and Spices.”

HumorConfucianismPolitical Observation
Book:The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
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“From Mencius ... "If, however, dogs and swine eat that food which should be eaten by human beings, without thought being taken to put a stop to this practice, if people starve to death on the public highways, without thought being taken as to how to help them, and if one still says, in the face of the extinction of the population, 'It is not I who am to blame for this, but the bad year'—this is just the same as if one stabs a person to death and says, 'It is not I who did this, but the sword.”

BlameConfucianismMencius
Book:Confucius and Confucianism.
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“Therefore, it is believed that the ancestors return after a lapse of tiem as if to a general and spiritual reservoir from which they will sooner or later unite once more with human bodies and human souls as their stimuli and impulses to life. ... Such is more or less the idea of Confucianism. And the only exception is that all human beings are not viewed as equally immortal. Whoever has harmonized his nature and caused his existence to be so effective as to emanate magical powers because they can transform and act creatively, such a person will not return after death. He will not be a Kuei, but a Shen. Shen means someone divinely effective -- man as hero, who is connected with the entire cultural complex. The duration of the culture is also his duration, because his life endures in the pantheon of this culture.”

ConfucianismAncient ChinaI ChingThe Occult
Author:Hellmut and Richard Wilhelm
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“I saw exactly one picture of Marx and one of Lenin in my whole stay, but it's been a long time since ideology had anything to do with it. Not without cunning, Fat Man and Little Boy gradually mutated the whole state belief system into a debased form of Confucianism, in which traditional ancestor worship and respect for order become blended with extreme nationalism and xenophobia. Near the southernmost city of Kaesong, captured by the North in 1951, I was taken to see the beautifully preserved tombs of King and Queen Kongmin. Their significance in F.M.-L.B. cosmology is that they reigned over a then unified Korea in the 14th century, and that they were Confucian and dynastic and left many lavish memorials to themselves. The tombs are built on one hillside, and legend has it that the king sent one of his courtiers to pick the site. Second-guessing his underling, he then climbed the opposite hill. He gave instructions that if the chosen site did not please him he would wave his white handkerchief. On this signal, the courtier was to be slain. The king actually found that the site was ideal. But it was a warm day and he forgetfully mopped his brow with the white handkerchief. On coming downhill he was confronted with the courtier's fresh cadaver and exclaimed, 'Oh dear.' And ever since, my escorts told me, the opposite peak has been known as 'Oh Dear Hill.' I thought this was a perfect illustration of the caprice and cruelty of absolute leadership, and began to phrase a little pun about Kim Jong Il being the 'Oh Dear Leader,' but it died on my lips.”

ReligionCrueltyIdeologyCommunismNationalismKoreaTotalitarianismNorth KoreaXenophobiaFarceConfucianismCapriceAbsolutismKarl MarxKim Jong IlKim Il SungVladimir Lenin14th CenturyQueen NogukTomb Of King KongminVeneration Of The Dead
Book:Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays
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“News “…she fell into the water from the sky…” Jae-in Doe Decedent is an Asian female. Twenty-two she just had turned. The cause of death we cannot tell Despite the many things we’ve learned. TOP SECRET My Doe-type can be difficult to track. Yet here I am, my voice-box playing back From lips hydrangea-lavender in hue His thoughts during our first few interviews. The hair is shoulder-length, the color black. The height and weight suggest she won’t fight back. The fingernails are unadorned and short. The eyes are brown; no makeup do they sport. The skin appears unpierced and untattooed, Yet scars of ruby-pearl seem to protrude Like self-inflicted jewelry on each arm And wrist—which means she’s vulnerable to harm. The language of her flesh, as I assess her, Reveals Confucian worship of professors. Her deference Korean gives me right To use her innocence for my delight.”

PoetryEducationMisogynyKoreaRape CultureConfucianismSpeculative PoetryBlazon
Book:The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018: New Fiction, Poetry, and Category-Defying Literary Gems
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“There is a growing interest in Confucianism in China and other parts of the world. More and more followers of Confucianism are advocating a deeper study of his philosophies. Confucius' ideals stand true even today. His philosophy on how to be a Junzi or the perfect gentleman is based on the simple ideology of love and tolerance.”

WorldPhilosophyTodayInterestSimplePerfectStudyGrowingIdealsChinaDeeperToleranceIdeologyGentlemanFollowersAdvocatingConfucianismPerfect Gentleman
Author:Confucius
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“Hinduism, Confucianism, and Buddhism are huge traditions of enormous importance, and they aren't monotheistic. Again, this reflects the fact that our preconceptions about what religion is are so influenced by Protestantism - either real Protestantism or the secularized Protestantism that dominates our culture - and its assumption that beliefs are the most important thing.”

ImportantRealFactsCultureBeliefHugeBuddhismTraditionImportanceImportant ThingsEnormousAssumptionHinduismPreconceptionsConfucianismProtestantism
Author:Robert Neelly Bellah
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“Every single one of the major world faiths, whether we're talking about Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Darwinism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, have all come to the conclusion that what holds us back from our better self is ego, selfishness, greed, unkindness, hatred. And it all springs from a sense of thwarted ego.”

WorldSelfTalkingChristianityBuddhismEgoMajorsSpringHatredIslamGreedConclusionSelfishnessHinduismJudaismDarwinismConfucianismUnkindnessChristianity And Islam
Author:Karen Armstrong
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“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

MenInspirationalBelieveWisdomMotivationalMovingTimeFaithSportsCouragePositiveWise WordsWords Of WisdomMountainStonesPerseveranceBrilliantUpliftingChinesePersistenceBelieve In YourselfLittle ThingsPersistNew BeginningsNot Giving UpBeginningWise Man Once SaidMountain ClimbingPerserveranceSuperior ManSmall StepsConfucianismInspirational Mountain ClimbingStarting A BusinessAncient WisdomMountain TopClimbing Mountains InspirationalMountain ManJust Keep MovingNever Give Up HopeNew Life New BeginningChinese PhilosopherChinese ProverbSmall BeginningsJust Keep Moving OnWise ChineseIncrementalismOrdinary And Extraordinary
Author:Confucius
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“Many people entertain the idea that Christianity,like almost any other religion,is basically a system of beliefs-you know, a set of doctrines or a code of behavior, a philosophy, an ideology. But that's a myth. Christianity is not at all like Buddhism or Islam or Confucianism. The founders of those religions said (in effect), 'Here is what I teach. Believe my teachings. Follow my philosophy.' Jesus said, 'Follow me'(Matthew 9:9). Leaders of the world's religions said, 'What do you think about what I teach?' Jesus said, 'Who do you say I am?'(Luke 9:20)”

PeopleThinkingKnowsWorldBelieveSaidIdeasPhilosophyJesusBeliefLeaderChristianityTeachTeachingEffectsBuddhismBehaviorIslamMythDoctrineIdeologyCodeFoundersFollow MeLukeMatthewConfucianism
Author:Josh McDowell
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“I regard monotheism as the greatest disaster ever to befall the human race. I see no good in Judaism, Christianity, or Islam - good people, yes, but any religion based on a single, well, frenzied and virulent god, is not as useful to the human race as, say, Confucianism, which is not a religion but an ethical and educational system.”

PeopleHumansWellsReligionRaceChristianityAtheismRegardIslamEducationalDisasterHuman RaceEthicalGood PeopleJudaismEducational SystemConfucianismMonotheism
Author:Gore Vidal
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“Earnest in practicing the ordinary virtues, and careful in speaking about them, if, in his practice, he has anything defective, the superior man dares not but exert himself; and if, in his words, he has any excess, he dares not allow himself such license.”

IfsMenCharacterPracticeVirtueOrdinaryCarefulDareSuperiorsExcessEarnestLicenseDefectiveSuperior ManConfucianism
Book:Delphi Collected Works of Confucius - Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism (Illustrated)
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“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.”

MenWorldWayStillsCharacterWould BeAbleEarthFoundSpeakHeavenGreatnessEmbraceSuperiorsSplitsHeaven And EarthDissatisfiedSuperior ManConfucianism
Book:Delphi Collected Works of Confucius - Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism (Illustrated)
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“In archery we have something like the way of the superior man. When the archer misses the center of the target, he turns round and seeks for the cause of his failure in himself.”

MenWayCharacterTurnsCausesMissingRoundsSuperiorsTargetArcherSuperior ManConfucianismArchery
Book:Delphi Collected Works of Confucius - Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism (Illustrated)
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