Confucius quotes and modern parallels

Confucius quote: Confucius he say “to know what we know and know what we do not know is wisdom”.

Almost two and a half thousand years later Donald Rumsfeld said “there are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know” Obviously Rumsfeld still has much to learn!

Confucius quote: Confucius he say “a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”

The modern equivalent of this might run along the lines that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with too much luggage”.

Confucius quote: Confucius say “poetry should be expressive of enjoyment without being licentious, and expressive of sadness without grieving”.

Possibly Paul McCartney had this in mind when, in an attempt at writing poetry, he came up with the line - “Sadness isn’t sadness, it’s happiness in a black jacket”. Anyone think that this will be widely quoted in 2000 years time?

Confucius quote: Confucius he say “He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.”

George W Bush he say “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a litturacy test.”

One of these never held any public office, the other became leader of richest nation on earth.

Confucius quote: Confucius say “in education there are no class distinctions”.

Would be nice to think that Eton would turn out as many thick failures as a deprived inner city school, but somehow I think not!

Confucius quote: Confucius he say “a promise easily made is hard to keep”.

The modern day equivalent runs along the lines “the Conservative (could equally apply to any political party) manifesto is not worth the paper it’s written on”.

Confucius quote: Confucius he say “we shall seldom get lost if we hold to main lines”.

This would have been a good principle for those who designed satellite navigation systems to follow.

Confucius quote: Confucius say “study the past if you would define the future”.

Perhaps the modern translation is “look at the form book before placing the bet”.

Thanks to all who have submitted idea on modern parallels or commentaries on Confucius quotations to …………. We’re currently reviewing these and will be adding to the list shortly. Please keep feeding in the ideas. Email me your thoughts and ideas here

Why not try to come up with a modern parallel for the following quotations?

• “he who will not economise will have to agonise”…
• “it does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop”…
• “our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in getting up every time we do”…
• “never give a sword to a man who can’t dance”…