Born in 551 BC, Confucius was a popular Chinese philosopher and teacher, whose words are as relevant for the modern man as they were at that time. His quotes have been translated into many languages and many people constantly draw inspiration from his aphorisms whenever they are short of it. Full of wisdom, Confucius quotes shows us the path of to a rich inner life, peace, and harmony.
There’s hardly a place in the world where Confucius is not known. While you can read his aphorisms in your native language, if you are living or visiting Mainland China or Singapore and learning Chinese, you must read them in Chinese.
Reading Confucius quotes in Chinese will help you understand their meaning more acutely and clearly, besides helping you brush up your Chinese, which as you might know by now, is quite a challenging language. With that said, joining regular Mandarin classes can help you reach fluency in Chinese relatively quickly.
Coming back to Confucius, we have compiled a list of three of his best quotes. Surely, picking three quotes out of a hundred quotes or even more was not easy, because each of Confucius quote is a classic in its own right.
Here are our 3 classic Confucius quotes
1.“Isn’t it a pleasure to study and practice what you have learned? Isn’t it also great when friends visit from distant places? If one remains not annoyed when he is not understood by people around him, isn’t he a sage?”
2.“At home, a young man should be a good son, when outside he should treat others like his brothers, his behavior should be one of trustworthy and proper, and should love the multitude at large and keep himself close to people of benevolence and morality. If after all these activities, he has any energy to spare, he should read widely to stay cultivated.”
3.“To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; we must first set our right.”
What? Do you want more Confucius quotes? Yes, we understand reading only three quotes of his is like just wetting your big toe of the left foot in the pond of wisdom.
Here are a few other famous Confucius aphorisms.
- “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”
- “When you see a worthy person, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy person, then examine your inner self.”
- “When I walk along with two others, from at least one I will be able to learn.”
- “A man who has committed a mistake and doesn’t correct it is committing another mistake.”
- “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”
With this, we round up our post on Confucius aphorism. If reading these words of wisdom from the wise old sage of China has kindled an interest in you to learn Chinese in Singapore, we suggest you join a regular small class.
