Quotes about Wisdom

If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success. When affairs cannot be carried on to success, proprieties and music do not flourish.

The wise never doubt. The Humane never worry. The brave never fear.

One who never anticipates deceit or expects duplicity, and yet is the first to recognize such things — is that not a sage indeed?

Who can (make) the muddy water (clear)? Let it be still, and it will gradually become clear.

There are those who act without knowing; I will have none of this. To hear a lot, choose the good, and follow it, to see a lot and learn to recognize it: this is next knowledge.

The wise are free from perplexities; the virtuous from anxiety; and the bold from fear.

The noble-minded are all-encompassing, not stuck in doctrines. Little people are stuck in doctrines.

The Master said: 'Artful speech and an ingratiating demeanour rarely accompany virtue.

Not to talk with people although they can be talked with is to waste people. To talk with people although they can't be talked with is to waste words. A man of understanding does not waste people, but he also does not waste words.

The Master said, "The gentleman harmonizes [he] without being an echo. The petty man echoes [tong] and does not harmonize.

Knowing it does not compare with loving it; loving it does not compare with delighting in it.

The Master was entirely free of four faults: arbitrariness, inflexibility, rigidity, and selfishness.