"Men do not stumble over mountains, but over molehills"

Confucius Philosophy See all quotes by Confucius →

React to this quote

More by Confucius

“By extensively studying all learning, and keeping himself under the restraint of the rules of propriety, one may thus likewise not err from what is right.”

“If the people have no faith in their rulers, there is no standing for the state.”

“Let the superior man never fail reverentially to order his own conduct, and let him be respectful to others and observant of propriety:—then all within the four seas, all men are brothers. What has the superior man to do with being distressed because he has no brothers?”

“The superior man has neither anxiety nor fear. When internal examination discovers nothing wrong, what is there to be anxious about, what is there to fear?”

“The man of perfect virtue is cautious and slow in his speech. When a man feels the difficulty of doing, can he be other than cautious and slow in speaking?”

“Cornered vessel without corners, strange cornered vessel, strange cornered vessel.”

Resonant Thoughts

"My mother had naturally spiced the pudding with sixpences and threepenny bits, called zacs and trays respectively. Grandpa had collected one of these in the oesophagus. He gave a protracted, strangled…"

— Clive James

Literature1939–2019

#nature

"Since Sputnik there is no Nature. Nature is an item contained in a man-made environment of satellites and information."

— Marshall McLuhan

Philosophy1911–1980

#nature

"Nature is the universe, including ourselves. And are we not all the time tinkering at the universe, especially the garden patch that is next to us—the earth? Every time we dig a ditch or plant a field…"

— J. Howard Moore

Philosophy1862–1916

#nature