"The superior man, while there is anything he has not studied, or while in what he has studied there is anything he cannot understand, Will not intermit his labor. While there is anything he has not inquired about, or anything in what he has inquired about which he does not know, he will not intermit his labor. While there is anything which he has not reflected on, or anything in what he has reflected on which he does not apprehend, he will not intermit his labor. While there is anything which he has not discriminated or his discrimination is not clear, he will not intermit his labor. If there be anything which he has not practiced, or his practice fails in earnestness, he will not intermit his labor. If another man succeed by one effort, he will use a hundred efforts. If another man succeed by ten efforts, he will use a thousand. Let a man proceed in this way, and, though dull, he will surely become intelligent; though weak, he will surely become strong."

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

"If you want to know what the SDP is about, look at its morning star, Roy Jenkins, the greatest Euro-bureaucrat of them all, a man who would never put up with anything British if he could find somethin…"

— Enoch Powell

Politics1912–1998

#knowledge

"We don't go to school to learn, but to be soaked in the prejudices of our class, without which we should be useless and unhappy."

— André Maurois

opinion journalism1885–1967

#knowledge

"I am grateful for what I am & have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing definite — only a sense of existence. Well, anything for variety. I am ready to…"

— Henry David Thoreau

Literature1817–1862

#Philosophy

"There was no getting around the stubborn fact that taking sweetmeats was only "hooking," while taking bacon and hams and such valuables was plain simple stealing — and there was a command against that…"

— Mark Twain

Literature1835–1910

#life