Question 1

What is the best book to start with?

Accepted Answer

Analects, books 1, 2, and 4, in D. C. Lau or Arthur Waley. Those books hold the opening on learning, the pole star, the stages of a life, and the contrast of rightness and profit.

Question 2

What is the most famous quote?

Accepted Answer

This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Confucius that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “To learn and to practise from time to time what one has learned — is this not a pleasure?” (Analects 1.1, Paraphrase or translation).

Question 3

What is the most misquoted line?

Accepted Answer

The library marks this as Misattributed: “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” This is not in the Analects or other early Confucian texts. It is a modern proverb, sometimes dressed up as Japanese or Chinese wisdom. Confucius does warn against repayng injury with injury in a simple way (Analects 14.34 is a nuanced exchange), which is a different argument.

Question 4

What is one key idea, in a sentence?

Accepted Answer

Learning and practice: The book opens with the pleasure of learning and then, at intervals, putting what was learned to work.