Quotes from The Analects

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“Respect yourself and others will respect you.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“To be wealthy and honored in an unjust society is a disgrace.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“Never give a sword to a man who can't dance.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“The noble-minded are calm and steady. Little people are forever fussing and fretting.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“He Who Knows And Knows That He Knows Is A Wise Man - Follow Him;
He Who Knows Not And Knows Not That He Knows Not Is A Fool - Shun Him”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“When the wind blows,the grass bends.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“Fix your mind on truth, hold firm to virtue, rely on loving kindness, and find your recreation in the Arts.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“Lead the people with administrative injunctions and put them in their place with penal law, and they will avoid punishments but will be without a sense of shame. Lead them with excellence and put them in their place through roles and ritual practices, and in addition to developing a sense of shame, they will order themselves harmoniously”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“Be strict with yourself but least reproachful of others and complaint is kept afar.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“The superior man has a dignified ease without pride. The mean man has pride without a dignified ease.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“If there were an honorable way to get rich, I’d do it, even if it meant being a stooge standing around with a whip. But there isn’t an honorable way, so I just do what I like.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“The scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“The expectations of life depend upon diligence the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools. ”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“Not to discuss with a man worthy of conversation is to waste the man. To discuss with a man not worthy of conversation is to waste words. The wise waste neither men nor words.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“Tsze-Kung asked, “Is there one word with which to act in accordance throughout a lifetime?” The Master said, “Is not reciprocity such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“To be poor without murmuring is difficult. To be rich without being proud is easy.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“Coarse rice to eat, water to drink, my bended arm for a pillow - therein is happiness. Wealth and rank attained through immoral means are nothing but drifting clouds.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“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.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“Care not for want of place; care for thy readiness to fill one. Care not for being unknown, but seek to be worthy of note.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“What can a man do with music who is not benevolent?”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“A youth is to be regarded with respect. How do we know that his future will not be equal to our present? If he reach the age of forty or fifty, and has not made himself heard of, then indeed he will not be worth being regarded with respect.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“There are some with whom we may study in common, but we shall find them unable to go along with us to principles. Perhaps we may go on with them to principles, but we shall find them unable to get established in those along with us. Or if we may get so established along with them, we shall find them unable to weigh occurring events along with us.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“If you expect great things of yourself and demand little of others, you’ll keep resentment far away.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“Zuviel ist gerade so falsch wie zuwenig.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

“A conversa impregnada de vaidade e o pretensiosismo são raramente compatíveis com a virtude.”
― Confucius, quote from The Analects

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Popular quotes

“Sensazione meravigliosa. Di quando il destino finalmente si schiude, e diventa sentiero distinto, e ormai inequivocabile, e direzione certa. Il tempo interminabile dell'avvicinamento. Quell'accostarsi. Si vorrebbe non finisse mai. Il gesto di consegnarsi al destino. Quella è un'emozione: Senza più dilemmi, senza più menzogne. Sapere dove. E raggiungerlo. Qualunque sia, il destino.”
― Alessandro Baricco, quote from Oceano mare

“To love nature and to hate humanity is illogical. Humanity is part of the whole. To truly love the world is also to love human ingenuity and playfulness. Nature does not need to be cleansed of human artifacts to be beautiful or coherent. Yes, we should be less greedy, untidy, wasteful, and shortsighted. But let us not turn responsibility into self-hatred. Our biggest failing is, after all, lack of compassion for the world. Including ourselves.”
― quote from The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature

“At the beginning of the semester, when you asked who I loved the most, an image of my mother popped in my head. When you asked me who I loved the most for the second time, it wasn’t an image of my mother. Instead, it was replaced by an image of a strawberry blonde with big, blue eyes.
It took me a long time to figure out the exact moment I fell in love with her, partly because I denied that I did until it was too late.
I fucked up so badly and did so many things wrong, to the point of no return, so I let her go. The selfless part inside of me wants to say I did the right thing, and the selfish part of me thinks I made the biggest mistake of my life. I guess the selfless side won out because, every time I look at her and see what I did, I realize I don’t deserve her.
I was never supposed to fall in love with her, but that was the best mistake of my life. I will always love her; I have ever since I purposely bumped into her in the hallway.”
― Sarah Brianne, quote from Nero

“The heel of Montgomery’s boot tapped nervously against the floor, as if he knew he was a bad liar. “I can’t say how he’ll take the news at first. He can be unpredictable, but in the end he’ll be glad you came.” He leaned forward, blue eyes simmering. His boot tapped faster. “I’m glad you came.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter

“The best minute I spend is the one I invest in people.”
― Kenneth H. Blanchard, quote from The One Minute Manager

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.