The classic sayings that best embody Confucius’ thoughts:

1. Virtue is not alone, it must have neighbors. Translation: A moral person will never be alone. There must be like-minded people to accompany him.

2. People who have no long-term worries must have immediate worries. Translation: If there is no long-term consideration, there will be immediate troubles.

3. If you are a three-person person, you must have a teacher. Choose the good ones and follow them, and change the bad ones. Translation: There must be something worth learning from other people’s words and deeds. Choose what others have learned from, see the shortcomings of others, reflect on whether you have the same shortcomings, and if so, correct them.

4. Getting rich and noble unjustly is like a floating cloud to me. Translation: The glory and wealth obtained through unfair means are just a floating cloud in the sky to me and are meaningless.

5. Don’t do to others what you don’t want others to do to you. Translation: Don’t impose on others what you don’t like yourself.

6. Don’t talk about things when they are done, don’t admonish when things are done, and let bygones be bygones. Translation: Once something has been done, there is no need to mention it again; it has become a fact, and there is no need to dissuade it; there is no need to ask about things in the past.

7. Don’t worry about poverty but worry about inequality; don’t worry about scarcity but worry about insecurity. Translation: It's not fair, and in families, it's sometimes hard to do that.

8. To know something is to know it, and to know something is to know it, and to know something is to know it. This is knowledge. Translation: If you understand, you understand, and if you don’t understand, you don’t understand. This is true wisdom.

9. Making mistakes without correcting them is called making mistakes. Translation: Making mistakes but not correcting them is the real fault.