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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Confucius16 quotes
Moral force never dwells in solitude; it will always bring neighbors. — Confucius · 221 BCI for my part am not one of those who have innate knowledge. I am simply one who loves the past and who is diligent in investigating it. — Confucius · 221 BCIs Goodness indeed so far away? If we really wanted Goodness, we should find that it was at our very side. — Confucius · 221 BCIf you desire what is good, the people will be good. The character of a ruler is like wind and that of the people is like grass. In whatever direction the wind blows the grass always bends. — Confucius · 221 BCAt fifteen my mind was set on learning. At thirty my character had been formed. At forty I had no more perplexities. At fifty I knew the Mandate of Heaven. At sixty I was at ease with whatever I heard. At seventy I could follow my heart's desire without transgressing moral principles. — Confucius · 221 BCA gentleman is ashamed to let his words outrun his deeds. — Confucius · 221 BCAll 16 quotes →Lao Tzu11 quotes
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCNature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCThe sage does not accumulate for himself.
The more he uses for others, the more he has himself.
The more he gives to others, the more he possesses of his own.
The Way of Heaven is to benefit others and not to injure.
The Way of the sage is to act but not to compete. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCHe who knows does not speak.
He who speaks does not know. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCDo you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear? — Lao Tzu · 400 BCIf you try to change it, you will ruin it. Try to hold it, and you will lose it. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCAll 11 quotes →Mencius10 quotes
The great man is the one who does not lose his [originally good] child's heart. — Mencius · 300 BCThe tendency of man's nature to good is like the tendency of water to flow downwards. — Mencius · 300 BCThe root of the kingdom is the state. The root of the state is in the family. The root of the family is in the person of its head. — Mencius · 300 BCThe great man is he who does not lose his child's heart. — Mencius · 300 BCThe people turn to a benevolent rule as water flows downwards, and as wild beasts fly to the wilderness. — Mencius · 300 BCWhen one by force subdues men, they do not submit to him in heart. They submit, because their strength is not adequate to resist. — Mencius · 300 BCAll 10 quotes →Mao Zedong7 quotes
Every Communist must grasp the truth: "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." — Mao Zedong · 1938A revolution is not the same as inviting people to dinner, or writing an essay, or painting a picture... A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another. — Mao Zedong · 1927The policy of letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is designed to promote the flourishing of the arts and the progress of science; it is designed to enable a socialist culture to thrive in our land. — Mao Zedong · 1957Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting progress in the arts and the sciences and a flourishing socialist culture in our land. — Mao Zedong · 1957Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed. — Mao Zedong · 1938The atom bomb is a paper tiger which the United States reactionaries use to scare people. It looks terrible, but in fact it isn't... All reactionaries are paper tigers. — Mao Zedong · 1946All 7 quotes →Sun Tzu4 quotes
Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be defeated. — Sun Tzu · 475 BCBe extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate. — Sun Tzu · 490 BCTo fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. — Sun Tzu · 500 BCThe best victory is when the opponent surrenders of its own accord before there are any actual hostilities... It is best to win without fighting. — Sun Tzu · 490 BCZhuang Zhou4 quotes
When one is at ease with himself, one is near Tao. — Zhuang Zhou · 221 BCThe universe and I exist together, and all things and I are one. — Zhuang Zhou · 221 BCPeople suppose that words are different from the peeps of baby birds, but is there any difference, or isn't there? — Zhuang Zhou · 220 BCThose who are contented and at ease when the occasion comes and live in accord with the course of Nature cannot be affected by sorrow or joy. This is what the ancients called release from bondage. Those who cannot release themselves are so because they are bound by material things. — Zhuang Zhou · 221 BCBruce Lee2 quotes
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or creep or drip or crash. Be water, my friend. — Bruce Lee · 1971You're the one with the big mouth, and I would really enjoy closing it, especially in front of all my friends. But my hands are registered as lethal weapons. That means, we get into a fight, I accidentally kill you, I go to jail. — Bruce Lee · 2019Jing Hao2 quotes
Resemblance reproduces the formal aspect of objects, but neglects their spirit; truth shows the spirit and substance in like perfection. — Jing Hao · 925There are Six Essentials in painting. The first is called spirit; the second, rhythm; the third, thought; the fourth, scenery; the fifth, the brush; and the last is the ink. — Jing Hao · 925Dalai Lama1 quote
Because violence can only breed more violence and suffering, our struggle must remain nonviolent and free of hatred. We are trying to end the suffering of our people, not to inflict suffering on others. — Dalai Lama · 1989Gao Xingjian1 quote
Once literature is contrived as the hymn of the nation, the flag of the race, the mouthpiece of a political party or the voice of a class or a group it can be employed as a mighty and all-engulfing tool of propaganda. However, such literature loses what is inherent in literature, ceases to be literature, and becomes a substitute for power and profit. — Gao Xingjian · 2000Henry Luce1 quote
The world of the 20th century, if it is to come to life in any nobility of health and vigor, must be to a significant degree an Amirian century. — Henry Luce · 1941J.G. Ballard1 quote
A car crash harnesses elements of eroticism, aggression, desire, speed, drama, kinaesthetic factors, the stylizing of motion, consumer goods, status-all these in one event. I myself see the car crash as a tremendous sexual event really: a liberation of human and machine libido. — J.G. Ballard · 1970Jianzhi Sengcan1 quote
Even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment is to go astray. — Jianzhi Sengcan · 606Lady Ho1 quote
When a pair of magpies fly together
They do not envy the pair of phoenixes. — Lady Ho · 300 BCLi Bai1 quote
Drunk we lie down in empty hills,
heaven and earth our quilt and pillow. — Li Bai · 762Linji Yixuan1 quote
Seekers of the Way. In Buddhism no effort is necessary. All one has to do is to do nothing except to move his bowels, urinate, put on his clothing, eat his meals, and lie down if he is tired. The stupid will laugh at him, but the wise will understand. — Linji Yixuan · 886Pearl S. Buck1 quote
The test of civilization is in the way that it cares for its helpless members. — Pearl S. Buck · 1954Qianlong Emperor1 quote
As your ambassador can see for himself we possess all things. I set no value on objects strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country's manufactures. — Qianlong Emperor · 1793Shi Nai'An1 quote
A man should not marry after thirty years of age; should not enter the government service after the age of forty; should not have any more children after the age of fifty; and should not travel after the age of sixty. This is because the proper time for those things has passed. — Shi Nai'An · 1524Sima Qian1 quote
Though bitter, good medicine cures illness. Though it may hurt, loyal criticism will have beneficial effects. — Sima Qian · 109 BCTao Yuanming1 quote
I have done my plowing:
I have sown my seed.
Again I have time to sit and read my books. — Tao Yuanming · 427Xunxi1 quote
To pursue it is to be human, to give it up is to be a beast. — Xunxi · 250 BCYuanwu Keqin1 quote
No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place. — Yuanwu Keqin · 1125Zhang Huan1 quote
I want to make work so people can be moved by a sense of the possible. — Zhang Huan · 2000