Analects 2:1. Confucius said, "A ruler who governs his state by virtue is like the north polar star, which remains in its place while all the other stars revolve around it."

Analects 2:2. Confucius said, "All three hundred odes can be covered by one of their sentences, and that is, 'Have no depraved thoughts.'"

Analects 2:3. Confucius said, "Lead the people with governmental measures and regulate them by law and punishment, and they will avoid wrongdoing but will have no sense of honor and shame. Lead them with virtue and regulate them by the rules of propriety (li), and they will have a sense of shame and, moreover, set themselves right."

Analects 2:4. Confucius said, "At 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 (T'ien-ming). At sixty I was at ease with whatever I heard. At seventy I could follow my heart's desire without transgressing moral principles."

Analects 2:5. Meng I Tzu asked about filial piety. Confucius said, "Never disobey." [Later,] when Fan Ch'ih was driving him, Confucius told him, "Meng-sun asked me about filial piety, and I answered him, 'Never disobey.'" Fan Ch'ih said, "What does that mean?" Confucius said, "When parents are alive, serve them according to the rules of propriety. When they die, bury them according to the rules of propriety and sacrifice to them according to the rules of propriety."

Analects 2:6. Meng Wu-po asked about filial piety. Confucius said, "Especially be anxious lest parents should be sick."

Analects 2:7. Tzu-yu asked about filial piety. Confucius said, "Filial piety nowadays means to be able to support one's parents. But we support even dogs and horses. If there is no feeling of reverence, wherein lies the difference?"

Analects 2:11. Confucius said, "A man who reviews the old so as to find out the new is qualified to teach others."

Analects 2:12. Confucius said, "The superior man is not an implement (ch'i)."

Analects 2:13. Tzu-kung asked about the superior man. Confucius said, "He acts before he speaks and then speaks according to his actions."

Analects 2:14. Confucius said, "The superior man is broadminded but not partisan; the inferior man is partisan but not broadminded."

Analects 2:15. Confucius said, "He who learns but does not think is lost; he who thinks but does not learn is in danger."

Analects 2:17. Confucius said, "Yu, shall I teach you [the way to acquire] knowledge? To say that you know when you do know and say that you do not know when you do not know--that is [the way to acquire] knowledge."

Analects 2:18. Tzu-chang was learning with a view to official emolument. Confucius said, "Hear much and put aside what's doubtful while you speak cautiously of the rest. Then few will blame you. See much and put aside what seems perilous while you are cautious in carrying the rest into practice. Then you will have few occasions for regret. When one's words give few occasions for blame and his acts give few occasions for repentance--there lies his emolument."

Analects 2:24. Confucius said, "It is flattery to offer sacrifice to ancestral spirits other than one's own. To see what is right and not to do it is cowardice."