Q0143

“The Master said: Only when the year turns cold do we know…” — Confucius (Analects 9.28)

Verified English quotation. Primary source: Analects 9.28. Theme: character.

English

The Master said: Only when the year turns cold do we know that the pine and cypress are the last to wither.
Thinker Confucius
School Confucianism
Source Analects 9.28
Theme Character
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to Analects 9.28 and files it under Confucianism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About Confucius

Confucius (Kong Qiu, 551–479 BCE) taught in the late Spring and Autumn period amid the Zhou order’s political fragmentation. Born in the state of Lu, he briefly held local office and then spent years seeking rulers who would adopt ritual-based, virtue-centered government.

How to read this passage

Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Arthur Schopenhauer and Heraclitus), character is framed through Confucianism and Voluntarism. Some passages define character; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language. This passage enters that discussion through character.

Concepts in this quote

Character
Character appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat character as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Confucius. (n.d.). The Master said: Only when the year turns cold do we know that the pine and cypress are the last to wither. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0143

MLA: Confucius. “The Master said: Only when the year turns….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0143.

Chicago: Confucius. “The Master said: Only when the year turns….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0143.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “The Master said: Only when the year turns…”?

The passage is attributed to Confucius, Analects 9.28. The archive attributes this English wording to Analects 9.28 and files it under Confucianism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

What does Confucius mean by character?

Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Arthur Schopenhauer and Heraclitus), character is framed through Confucianism and Voluntarism. Some passages define character; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language. This passage enters that discussion through character.

Same thinker

More from Confucius

  1. The Master said: Is it not a pleasure to learn and to practice what one has learned in due time? Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar? Is it not the mark of a gentleman to remain unresentful when others fail to appreciate one?
  2. The Master said: What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.
  3. The Master said: You, shall I teach you what knowing is? To know what you know, and to know what you do not know — that is true knowing.
  4. The Master said: When three people walk together, one of them is sure to be my teacher. I select what is good in them and follow it; what is not good, I correct in myself.
  5. The Master said: When you see the worthy, think of equaling them; when you see the unworthy, examine yourself within.

All quotations by Confucius

Same theme

More on character

  1. It is through wonder that people both now begin and first began to philosophize.
  2. A person's character is their destiny.
  3. What is opposed brings together; from what differs comes the finest harmony.
  4. Death is nothing to us: for what has been dissolved has no sensation, and what has no sensation is nothing to us.
  5. Pleasure is the beginning and end of the happy life — not the pleasures of profligates, but freedom from pain in the body and from disturbance in the soul.

Browse the character theme