At forty I saw clearly certain principles.

At fifty I understood the rule given by heaven.

At sixty everything I heard I easily understood.

At seventy the desires of my heart no longer transgressed the law." "If in the morning I hear about the right way, and in the evening I die, I can be happy." He says of himself: "He is a man who through his earnestness in seeking knowledge forgets his food, and in his joy for having found it loses all sense of his toil, and thus occupied is unconscious that he has almost reached old age." Again: "Coarse rice for food, water to drink, the bended arm for a pillow,--happiness may be enjoyed even with these; but without virtue both riches and honor seem to me like the passing cloud." "Grieve not that men know not you; grieve that you know not men." "To rule with equity is like the North Star, which is fixed, and all the rest go round it." "The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your ignorance." "Worship as though the Deity were present." "If my mind is not engaged in my worship, it is as though I worshipped not." "Formerly, in hearing men, I heard their words, and gave them credit for their conduct; now I hear their words, and observe their conduct." "A man's life depends on virtue; if a bad man lives, it is only by good fortune." "Some proceed blindly to action, without knowledge; I hear much, and select the best course." He was once found fault with, when in office, for not opposing the marriage of a ruler with a distant relation, which was an offence against Chinese propriety.

He said: "I am a happy man; if I have a fault, men observe it." Confucius was humble.