The Analects — Selected Passages (c. 500 BCE)¶

Author: Confucius (Kong Qiu); compiled by his students Type: Primary Source · Philosophy / Governance Text Source: Public domain — Chinese Text Project and Legge translation via Project Gutenberg Era/Period: Era 1 — Ancient Civilizations WH Standards: WH.6_12.2 · WH.6_12.3 ELA Standards: 9-10.R.4 · 9-10.R.9

Read It¶

Key selections from Books I, II, and XII — James Legge translation, public domain. Full text at Project Gutenberg.

Book I — On Learning and Character¶

I.1 The Master said, 'Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application? Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters? Is he not a man of complete virtue, who feels no discomposure though men may take no note of him?'

I.2 The philosopher Yu said, 'They are few who, being filial and fraternal, are fond of offending against their superiors. There have been none, who, not liking to offend against their superiors, have been fond of stirring up confusion. The superior man bends his attention to what is radical. That being established, all practical courses naturally grow up. Filial piety and fraternal submission — are they not the root of all benevolent actions?'

I.3 The Master said, 'Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.'

I.4 The philosopher Tsang said, 'I daily examine myself on three points: whether, in transacting business for others, I may have been not faithful; whether, in intercourse with friends, I may have been not sincere; whether I may have not mastered and practised the instructions of my teacher.'

I.5 The Master said, 'To rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men; and the employment of the people at the proper seasons.'

I.8 The Master said, 'If the scholar be not grave, he will not call forth any veneration, and his learning will not be solid. Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. Have no friends not equal to yourself. When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.'

I.15 Tsze-kung said, 'What do you pronounce concerning the poor man who yet does not flatter, and the rich man who is not proud?' The Master replied, 'They will do; but they are not equal to him, who, though poor, is yet cheerful, and to him, who, though rich, loves the rules of propriety.'

I.16 The Master said, 'I will not be afflicted at men's not knowing me; I will be afflicted that I do not know men.'

Book II — On Governance and Virtue¶

II.1 The Master said, 'He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.'

II.3 The Master said, 'If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of shame, and moreover will become good.'

II.4 The Master said, 'At fifteen, I had my mind bent on learning. At thirty, I stood firm. At forty, I had no doubts. At fifty, I knew the decrees of Heaven. At sixty, my ear was an obedient organ for the reception of truth. At seventy, I could follow what my heart desired, without transgressing what was right.'

II.11 The Master said, 'If a man keeps cherishing his old knowledge, so as continually to be acquiring new, he may be a teacher of others.'

II.15 The Master said, 'Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous.'

II.17 The Master said, 'Yu, shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it — this is knowledge.'

II.19 The Duke Ai asked, saying, 'What should be done in order to secure the submission of the people?' Confucius replied, 'Advance the upright and set aside the crooked, then the people will submit. Advance the crooked and set aside the upright, then the people will not submit.'

II.20 Chi K'ang asked how to cause the people to reverence their ruler, to be faithful to him, and to go on to nerve themselves to virtue. The Master said, 'Let him preside over them with gravity — then they will reverence him. Let him be filial and kind to all — then they will be faithful to him. Let him advance the good and teach the incompetent — then they will eagerly seek to be virtuous.'

Book XII — On Perfect Virtue and Just Government¶

XII.1 Yen Yuan asked about perfect virtue. The Master said, 'To subdue one's self and return to propriety, is perfect virtue. If a man can for one day subdue himself and return to propriety, all under heaven will ascribe perfect virtue to him. Is the practice of perfect virtue from a man himself, or is it from others?' Yen Yuan said, 'I beg to ask the steps of that process.' The Master replied, 'Look not at what is contrary to propriety; listen not to what is contrary to propriety; speak not what is contrary to propriety; make no movement which is contrary to propriety.'

XII.2 Chung-kung asked about perfect virtue. The Master said, 'It is, when you go abroad, to behave to every one as if you were receiving a great guest; to employ the people as if you were assisting at a great sacrifice; not to do to others as you would not wish done to yourself; to have no murmuring against you in the country, and none in the family.'

XII.7 Tsze-kung asked about government. The Master said, 'The requisites of government are that there be sufficiency of food, sufficiency of military equipment, and the confidence of the people in their ruler.' Tsze-kung said, 'If it cannot be helped, and one of these must be dispensed with, which of the three should be foregone first?' 'The military equipment,' said the Master. Tsze-kung again asked, 'If it cannot be helped, and one of the remaining two must be dispensed with, which of them should be foregone?' The Master answered, 'Part with the food. From of old, death has been the lot of all men; but if the people have no faith in their rulers, there is no standing for the state.'

XII.9 The Duke Ai inquired of Yu Zo, saying, 'The year is one of scarcity, and the returns for expenditure are not sufficient — what is to be done?' Yu Zo replied, 'Why not simply tithe the people?' 'With two tenths,' said the duke, 'I find it not enough — how could I do with that system of one tenth?' Yu Zo answered, 'If the people have plenty, their prince will not be left to want alone. If the people are in want, their prince cannot enjoy plenty alone.'

XII.11 The Duke Ching, of Ch'i, asked Confucius about government. Confucius replied, 'There is government, when the prince is prince, and the minister is minister; when the father is father, and the son is son.' 'Good!' said the duke; 'if, indeed; the prince be not prince, the minister not minister, the father not father, and the son not son, although I have my revenue, can I enjoy it?'

What This Text Is About¶

Portrait of Confucius (551–479 BCE), traditionally attributed to Wu Daozi, Tang dynasty copy.

Confucius (551–479 BCE) was a Chinese philosopher, teacher, and political advisor who lived during the Spring and Autumn period — an era of fragmented Chinese states, constant warfare, and political instability. His teachings, compiled after his death by his students into the Analects (literally "edited conversations"), argue that good government rests not on law and punishment but on virtue, ritual, and the cultivation of character. If rulers and ministers embody virtue, subjects will follow. If they don't, no amount of law can create a stable society.

Why this text belongs in the reading library: The Analects represent one of the most influential political philosophies in human history — shaping Chinese governance for over 2,000 years, influencing Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese political culture, and producing a conception of the relationship between individual character and political order that is fundamentally different from the Greek, Roman, and Abrahamic traditions that dominate Western curricula. Reading it alongside Hammurabi's Code and Pericles' Funeral Oration — all responding to the same basic question (how do you make a society work?) — reveals how differently the ancient world answered that question.

ELA Standards This Connects To¶

R.4 — The Analects is an aphoristic text — its "main ideas" are not argued linearly but stated as wisdom observations. Students practice identifying theme from aphorism: What is Confucius' central claim about governance? About human nature? About learning? Identifying themes from scattered observations is a different R.4 skill than tracing a developed argument.
R.9 — The Analects implicitly argue against a competing theory of governance (legalism — the idea that strict law and punishment, not virtue, are what make states stable). Students identify this implicit argument and compare it to arguments made by other governance texts in the library.
R.2 — Many passages are compressed to the point of requiring inference: "He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger." Students practice unpacking aphoristic language — what exactly does this mean? What examples would support it?

WH.6_12.2 — Confucianism functions as both a philosophical system and a governing ideology — analogous to how Christianity shaped European medieval governance, or how Islam shaped the political order of the dar al-Islam. Students understand that the major civilizations of the ancient world each developed their own framework for how moral order and political order relate.
WH.6_12.3 — Confucius argues for a meritocratic political order (the junzi, or "gentleman scholar," should govern by virtue, not birth) at the same historical moment Pericles argues for democratic participation in Athens. Comparing the two reveals two fundamentally different answers to the question "who should govern and why?"

Key Vocabulary¶

Term	Definition
Ren	Benevolence, humaneness, goodness — the central virtue in Confucian ethics; the quality a person must cultivate to govern well
Li	Ritual propriety — the correct performance of social roles and relationships; Confucius argues this is the foundation of social order
Junzi	The "gentleman" or "exemplary person" — not nobility by birth but a person of cultivated virtue; Confucius' model citizen and ruler
Zhengming	"Rectification of names" — Confucius' argument that social order requires that words correspond to realities: a ruler who doesn't rule justly shouldn't be called a ruler
Five Relationships	The five key social relationships in Confucian thought: ruler-subject, parent-child, husband-wife, elder-younger sibling, friend-friend. Each has defined duties flowing both ways.

Selected Passages¶

On governance by virtue (Book 2):

He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.

On self-cultivation (Book 1):

Is he not a man of complete virtue, who feels no discomposure though men may take no note of him?

On learning (Book 2):

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.

On the rectification of names (Book 13):

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 accomplished... Therefore a superior man considers it necessary that the names he uses may be spoken appropriately, and also that what he speaks may be carried out appropriately.

On the ruler's responsibility (Book 12):

The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man is always full of distress.

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

On benevolence (Book 12):

Fan Ch'ih asked about benevolence. The Master said, "It is to love all men." He asked about knowledge. The Master said, "It is to know all men."

Comparing Governance Philosophies¶

Question	Hammurabi	Pericles	Confucius
What makes a state stable?	Clear laws and proportional punishment	Civic participation and democratic equality	Virtuous rulers and proper social relationships
Who should govern?	The king (by divine appointment)	Citizens (by democratic participation)	The most virtuous (by self-cultivation)
What is the citizen's role?	Obey and appeal to law	Participate in self-governance	Fulfill one's social role virtuously
What corrects bad governance?	The law applies to the king too	Democratic accountability	The ruler's shame and loss of legitimacy
What it leaves out	Democratic voice	Women, non-citizens, enslaved	Independent political rights

Studio Ideas¶

"Three Answers to One Question" — EQ: What makes a government legitimate? · Standard: WH.6_12.3 + R.9 · Demo Mode: Written Assessment (compare Confucius' theory of virtuous governance to Pericles' theory of democratic governance — both are answering the same question. Which is more convincing? Which is more practical? Which is more just? Argue a position with evidence from both texts)
"Virtue vs. Law" — EQ: Is a good society built by good rules or good people? · Standard: WH.6_12.2 + W.4 · Demo Mode: Extended Writing (Confucius argues virtue; Hammurabi argues law. Write an argument for which theory better explains how societies actually work — use at least two historical examples)
"The Rectification of Names" — EQ: Does language create reality, or describe it? · Standard: R.4 + C.6 · Demo Mode: Verbal Conversation (Confucius argues that if a ruler doesn't rule justly, they shouldn't be called a ruler — "names" should correspond to reality. Apply this principle to a contemporary political example: Is there a case where what we call something doesn't match what it actually is? Does it matter?)
"Confucianism 2,500 Years Later" — EQ: Can a philosophy survive 2,500 years of history and still be relevant? · Standard: WH.6_12.6 + IR.1–5 · Demo Mode: Portfolio Annotation (research how Confucianism has been used — and misused — to justify governance in China from the Han dynasty to Xi Jinping. Annotate three uses: what part of Confucius is being invoked? Is it an accurate reading? What does it reveal about how powerful ideas get appropriated?)

Why This Is Relevant Today?¶

Confucianism is undergoing a political revival. The Chinese government has heavily promoted Confucian values — social harmony, respect for authority, the family as a model for the state — as an alternative framework to Western liberal democracy, funding Confucius Institutes on university campuses globally as part of that project. This makes the Analects more politically significant than they've been in decades, but also more contested: Is contemporary state Confucianism a genuine philosophical tradition, or a legitimating ideology for authoritarian governance? Beyond China, Confucian ideas about education as moral formation (not just credentialing), about the reciprocal obligations between leaders and the people they lead, and about social harmony as a value alongside individual rights genuinely challenge Western liberal assumptions — and are worth engaging seriously on their own terms. The Analects also have something to say about the current crisis in civic trust: Confucius argued that legitimacy depends on the ruler being worthy of loyalty, and that government loses the "mandate of heaven" when it stops serving the people. That's a live argument in any political system.