Q0455

Confucius

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

The Master said: To restrain the self and return to ritual propriety is ren. One day of this, and all under Heaven will turn toward ren.
Thinker Confucius
School Confucianism
Source Analects, Yan Yuan
Theme Benevolence
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Analects, Yan Yuan, within the tradition of Confucianism. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of benevolence, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Confucius's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Confucius. (n.d.). The Master said: To restrain the self and return to ritual propriety is ren. One day of this, and all under Heaven will turn toward ren. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0455

MLA: Confucius. “The Master said: To restrain the self and….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0455.

Chicago: Confucius. “The Master said: To restrain the self and….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0455.

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 benevolence

  1. The Master said: What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.
  2. The heart of compassion is possessed by all; so too the hearts of shame, of respect, and of right and wrong.
  3. The people are my siblings; things are my companions.
  4. The Master said: The resolute scholar and the man of ren will not seek life at the expense of ren; they may even sacrifice life to accomplish ren.
  5. The Master said: The wise are not perplexed; the humane are not anxious; the brave are not afraid.

Browse the benevolence theme