World History 1
CONFUCIAN TEACHINGS
“By nature, people are pretty much alike. It is learning and practice that set them
apart.”
“In education there should be no class distinction.”
“Learning without thinking is useless. Thinking without learning is dangerous.”
“The superior person is interested in what is right. The inferior person is interested in what
will pay.”
“I do not share ideas with those who are not eager to learn...If I have presented one corner of
the square and they cannot come back to me with the other three, I should not go over the
points again.”
｀The superior person is broad-minded and not prejudiced. The inferior person is prejudiced
and not broad-minded.”
“If you try to lead people by making policies and regulate them through punishments, they
will be evasive and have no sense of shame. If you lead them by modeling virtues and
regulate them through rituals, they will develop a sense of shame and will try to live up to
the standards.”
“What the superior person seeks is in himself. What the inferior person seeks is in others.”
TAOIST TEACHINGS
A wheelwright (maker of wheels) named Pian saw Duke Huan reading a book containing the
sayings of wise men from long ago.
“Why are you reading the dregs of men who are long dead?”Pian asked.
“Explain yourself!”answered Duke Huan angrily.
“When I am at work chiseling at a wheel, I must work neither too slow nor too fast or
the wheel will not turn out right. I know the proper speed because I feel it in my
hands and know it in my heart. My mouth cannot describe it in words. I have been
chiseling wheels for seventy years, but I cannot teach it to my son, and my son
cannot learn it from me. Like me, the wise men of old died in possession of what
they could not pass along. So what you are reading is just the dregs.”
World History 1
LEGALIST TEACHINGS
“The enlightened ruler, in ruling his country, increases the guards and makes the
penalties heavier. He depends on laws and prohibitions to control the people, not on
their sense of decency.”
“Governing is like washing hair. Even if some hairs fall out, it must be done.”
“Lancing boils hurts, and drinking medicines tastes bitter. But if on that account one
does not lance them or drink them, one will not recover.”
“A mother loves her child twice as much as a father does, but an order from a father
is ten times more effective than one from a mother.
“The relationship between officials and the people is not based on love, and their orders
are ten thousand times more effective than orders from parents.”