Confucius Quotes for When Your Mind Is Troubled

內省不疚 夫何憂何懼

nèi xǐng bù jiù, fú hé yōu hé jù · Analects 12.4

If inward examination reveals nothing to be ashamed of, what is there to worry about or fear?

When anxiety has no clear source, this passage suggests looking inward first. Confucius said it to Sima Niu, who lived in fear because his brother had launched a rebellion: if your conscience is clear, there is little left to fear.

君子坦蕩蕩 小人長戚戚

jūn zǐ tǎn dàng dàng, xiǎo rén cháng qī qī · Analects 7.37

The exemplary person is broad-minded and at ease; the petty person is forever anxious.

Comparison, calculation, and concern for reputation keep the mind uneasy. The contrast is between a person who lives by principle and is at ease, and one who is always counting gains and losses.

人不知而不慍 不亦君子乎

rén bù zhī ér bù yùn, bù yì jūn zǐ hū · Analects 1.1

Is one not an exemplary person if one remains unresentful when others fail to recognize one?

For the moments when your effort goes unnoticed. Quietly continuing on your path when no one recognizes it is presented as a mark of maturity, not a loss.

不患人之不己知 患不知人也

bù huàn rén zhī bù jǐ zhī, huàn bù zhī rén yě · Analects 1.16

Do not worry that others do not understand you; worry that you do not understand others.

Whether others understand you is outside your control; making the effort to understand them is not. Redirecting the worry changes where your energy goes.

鄙夫可與事君也與哉 其未得之也患得之 既得之患失之 苟患失之 無所不至矣

bǐ fū kě yǔ shì jūn yě yú zāi, qí wèi dé zhī yě huàn dé zhī, jì dé zhī huàn shī zhī, gǒu huàn shī zhī, wú suǒ bù zhì yǐ · Analects 17.15

Can a base person be trusted to serve a ruler? Before gaining office, such a person worries about obtaining it; after gaining it, about losing it. Once afraid of losing it, there is nothing that person will not do.

The source of the phrase huàn dé huàn shī (患得患失), “anxious over both gain and loss.” We cannot be wholly indifferent to what we gain or lose, but staking everything on it costs us ourselves.

往者不可諫 來者猶可追

wǎng zhě bù kě jiàn, lái zhě yóu kě zhuī · Analects 18.5

What is past can no longer be corrected, but what is to come may still be pursued.

For regret. Sung by the recluse Jieyu of Chu as he passed Confucius, the line separates what can no longer be changed from what is still within reach.

不患無位 患所以立

bù huàn wú wèi, huàn suǒ yǐ lì · Analects 4.14

Do not worry about lacking a position; worry about whether you are fit to hold one.

When you are anxious about an outcome, this moves attention from the result to the preparation. Develop the capacity first; the position comes second.

未知生 焉知死

wèi zhī shēng, yān zhī sǐ · Analects 11.12

When you do not yet understand life, how can you understand death?

Confucius’s reply when Zilu asked about death. It turns attention from what cannot be known to the life in front of you.

一簞食 一瓢飮 在陋巷 人不堪其憂 回也不改其樂

yī dān shí, yī piáo yǐn, zài lòu xiàng, rén bù kān qí yōu, huí yě bù gǎi qí lè · Analects 6.11

A bowl of rice, a ladle of water, and a home in a poor lane—others could not bear such hardship, yet Hui did not let it alter his joy.

Confucius praising Yan Hui, who kept his joy in poverty. It points to a source of contentment that does not depend on material conditions.

貧而無怨難 富而無驕易

pín ér wú yuàn nán, fù ér wú jiāo yì · Analects 14.10

It is difficult to be poor without resentment, but easy to be wealthy without arrogance.

Confucius admits that poverty is the harder test: resentment comes easily when resources are short. Avoiding it is difficult, which is why it deserves respect.

不逆詐 不億不信 抑亦先覺者 是賢乎

bù nì zhà, bù yì bù xìn, yì yì xiān jué zhě, shì xián hū · Analects 14.31

Without anticipating deceit or presuming bad faith, yet still perceiving them early—is that not the mark of a worthy person?

For when you have been hurt and start to suspect everyone. The balance proposed here: do not assume deceit in advance, but stay alert enough to notice it when it happens.

用之則行 舍之則藏

yòng zhī zé xíng, shě zhī zé cáng · Analects 7.11

When employed, put your principles into practice; when set aside, preserve them in retirement.

Said to Yan Hui. There is a time to step forward and a time to wait, and withdrawing when circumstances are wrong is not a defeat.

暮春者 春服既成 冠者五六人 童子六七人 浴乎沂 風乎舞雩 詠而歸

mù chūn zhě, chūn fú jì chéng, guàn zhě wǔ liù rén, tóng zǐ liù qī rén, yù hū yí, fēng hū wǔ yú, yǒng ér guī · Analects 11.26

In late spring, when the spring clothes are ready, I would go with five or six young men and six or seven boys, bathe in the River Yi, enjoy the breeze at the Rain Altar, and return home singing.

Zeng Dian’s answer when Confucius asked his disciples about their aspirations: a spring day by the river with friends, then home singing. Confucius said he was with Dian.