Q0293

“The noble person is cautious about what is not seen, apprehensive about…” — The Doctrine of the Mean (The Doctrine of the Mean)

Verified English quotation. Primary source: The Doctrine of the Mean. Theme: cultivation.

English

The noble person is cautious about what is not seen, apprehensive about what is not heard…therefore watchful when alone.
Thinker The Doctrine of the Mean
School Confucianism
Source The Doctrine of the Mean
Theme Cultivation
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to The Doctrine of the Mean 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 The Doctrine of the Mean

The Doctrine of the Mean appears in this archive through verified English quotations associated with the Confucianism tradition. Biographical certainty varies by figure and text; where the “author” is a scripture or school anthology, read the name as a traditional attribution rather than a modern individual biography.

How to read this passage

Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Mencius and Al-Ghazali), cultivation is framed through Confucianism and Islamic Philosophy. Some passages define cultivation; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language. This passage enters that discussion through cultivation.

Concepts in this quote

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

How to cite this quotation

APA: The Doctrine of the Mean. (n.d.). The noble person is cautious about what is not seen, apprehensive about what is not heard…therefore watchful when alone. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0293

MLA: The Doctrine of the Mean. “The noble person is cautious about what is….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0293.

Chicago: The Doctrine of the Mean. “The noble person is cautious about what is….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0293.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “The noble person is cautious about what is…”?

The passage is attributed to The Doctrine of the Mean, The Doctrine of the Mean. The archive attributes this English wording to The Doctrine of the Mean 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 The Doctrine of the Mean mean by cultivation?

Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Mencius and Al-Ghazali), cultivation is framed through Confucianism and Islamic Philosophy. Some passages define cultivation; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language. This passage enters that discussion through cultivation.

Same thinker

More from The Doctrine of the Mean

  1. Study extensively, inquire carefully, think prudently, discriminate clearly, and practice earnestly.
  2. Sincerity is the Way of Heaven; making oneself sincere is the way of human beings.
  3. Before joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure are issued, that is called the Mean; when issued and all hit due measure, that is called Harmony.
  4. What Heaven mandates is called nature; following nature is called the Way; cultivating the Way is called teaching.

All quotations by The Doctrine of the Mean

Same theme

More on cultivation

  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 cultivation theme