About Confucius
Confucius FAQ
Q: Who is Confucius?
A: Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC), or Kong Fuzi, was a Chinese philosopher and educator, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese thought and life.
Q: What did he do? Why was he so famous?
A: Confucius was born in 551 BC during the Spring and Autumn Period near the city of Qufu, in the Chinese State of Lu (now part of Shandong Province). Confucius is reported to have worked as a shepherd, cowherd, clerk and book-keeper. He is said to have risen to the position of Justice Minister in Lu at fifty-three. After that, Confucius began a long journey around the small kingdoms of northeast and central China to spread his teachings. At sixty-eight, Confucius returned home. Confucius died at the age of 72. He had numerous followers and students during life. Some of whom, such as, Mengzi and Xunzi, continued his work and further popularized his philosophy.
Q: How can we find his philosophy?
A: His teachings may be found in the Analects of Confucius, a collection of "brief aphoristic fragments", which was compiled many years after his death. He is the editor or author of all the Five Classics such as the Classic of Rites, and the Spring and Autumn Annals.
Q: What is his philosophy?
A: Confucius’s philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. Confucius' thoughts have been developed into a system of philosophy known as Confucianism. Confucianism was eventually to become a dominant philosophy and even a religion in China.
Q: How does Confucianism affects Chinese culture?
A: Confucius' principles gained wide acceptance primarily because of their basis in common Chinese tradition and belief. He championed strong familial loyalty, ancestor worship, respect of elders by their children (and, according to later interpreters, of husbands by their wives), and the family as a basis for an ideal government. He expressed the well-known principle, "Do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself". Confucius also looked nostalgically upon earlier days, and urged the Chinese, particularly those with political power, to model themselves on earlier examples.
Confucius Quotes
孔子语录
Is it not a joy to study and practice often what you have learned? Is it not a delight when friends visit from afar? If others do not recognize my achievements and it doesn't bother me, am I not a Gentleman?
學而時習之、不亦說乎。有朋自遠方來、不亦樂乎。人不知而不慍、不亦君子乎。
Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.
巧言令色、鮮矣仁。
I am not bothered by the fact that I am unknown. I am bothered when I do not know others.
不患人之不己之，患不知人也。
At fifteen my heart was set on learning; at thirty I stood firm; at forty I had no more doubts; at fifty I knew the mandate of heaven; at sixty my ear was obedient; at seventy I could follow my heart's desire without transgressing the norm.
吾十有五而志於學，三十而立，四十而不惑，五十而知天命，六十而耳順，七十而从心所欲，不逾矩。
Reviewing what you have learned and learning anew, you are fit to be a teacher.
溫故而知新，可以為師矣。
The Gentleman is all-embracing and not partial. The inferior man is partial and not all-embracing.
君子周而不比，小人比而不周。
To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.
學而不思則罔，思而不學則殆。
You [a disciple], shall I teach you about knowledge? What you know, you know. What you don't know, you don't know. This is true wisdom.
由、誨女知之乎、知之為知之、不知為不知、是知也。
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