# The most famous sayings from Confucius' Analects

The best-known lines from the Analects, the sayings of Confucius and his disciples, each with the chapter it comes from.

- 0 votes · 12 items
- Jul 14, 2026 · bytes_shenzhen
- https://even.best/en/l/1793/the-most-famous-sayings-from-confucius-analects

## Top 12

1. **Is it not a pleasure to learn and to practise what you have learned? Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar?** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Opening of Book 1 (Xue Er), the first lines of the Analects.
2. **He who reviews the old and learns the new can be a teacher.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Book 2 (Wei Zheng).
3. **Learning without thinking is useless; thinking without learning is dangerous.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Book 2 (Wei Zheng).
4. **To know what you know and to know what you do not know, that is true knowledge.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Book 2 (Wei Zheng), Confucius to Zilu.
5. **Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Book 15 (Wei Ling Gong), Confucius explaining «shu», reciprocity.
6. **When three people walk together, one of them can be my teacher. I follow their good points and correct their bad ones in myself.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Book 7 (Shu Er).
7. **Each day I examine myself on three points.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Book 1 (Xue Er), said by the disciple Zengzi.
8. **If I hear the Way in the morning, I could die content in the evening.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Book 4 (Li Ren).
9. **When you see a worthy person, try to equal them; when you see an unworthy one, examine yourself.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Book 4 (Li Ren).
10. **Everything flows away like this, never ceasing day or night!** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Book 9 (Zi Han), said by Confucius standing by a river.
11. **At fifteen I set my heart on learning; at thirty I stood firm; at forty I had no doubts; at fifty I knew the will of Heaven.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Book 2 (Wei Zheng), Confucius on the stages of his life.
12. **The gentleman seeks harmony, not uniformity; the petty man seeks uniformity, not harmony.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Book 13 (Zi Lu).

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