What is the good of being ready with the tongue? They who encounter men with smartnesses of speech for the most part procure themselves hatred. I kno… - Confucius

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What is the good of being ready with the tongue? They who encounter men with smartnesses of speech for the most part procure themselves hatred. I know not whether he be truly virtuous, but why should he show readiness of the tongue?

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About Confucius

Confucius (traditionally 28 September 551 B.C. – 479 B.C.) was a Chinese social philosopher, whose teachings deeply influenced East Asian life and thought. "Confucius" is a latinization of the Chinese 孔夫子, Kong Fu Zi or K'ung-fu-tzu, literally "Master Kong", but he is usually referred to in China with a simpler version of this honorific as 孔子, Kongzi, or Kǒng Zǐ.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Native Name: 孔夫子
Alternative Names: Confucio Konfuzius Cheu-kong Chung-ni Cong-tse K'ung Chung-ni K'ung Fu-tse K'ung-fu-tzu K'ung-tzu Kong Fu Zi Kong Fuzi Kong Qiu Kong Zhongni Kongfuzi Kongqiu Kongzi Kung Chung-ni Kung Fu Tzu Kung Fu-tse Kungfutse Zhongni
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Additional quotes by Confucius

The Master said, 'Respectfulness, without the rules of propriety, becomes laborious bustle; carefulness, without the rules of propriety, becomes timidity; boldness, without the rules of propriety, becomes insubordination; straightforwardness, without the rules of propriety, becomes rudeness.

The way which the superior man pursues, reaches wide and far, and yet is secret. Common men and women, however ignorant, may intermeddle with the knowledge of it; yet in its utmost reaches, there is that which even the sage does not know. Common men and women, however much below the ordinary standard of character, can carry it into practice; yet in its utmost reaches, there is that which even the sage is not able to carry into practice. Great as heaven and earth are, men still find some things in them with which to be dissatisfied. Thus it is that, were the superior man to speak of his way in all its greatness, nothing in the world would be found able to embrace it, and were he to speak of it in its minuteness, nothing in the world would be found able to split it.

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