Quotes about nature and heaven
Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.
These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline.
Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.
The Master having visited Nan-tsze, Tsze-lu was displeased, on which the Master swore, saying, "Wherein I have done improperly, may Heaven reject me, may Heaven reject me!
Mencius said, 'The bodily organs with their functions belong to our Heaven-conferred nature. But a man must be a sage before he can satisfy the design of his bodily organization.'
Tsze-kung said, "The Master's personal displays of his principles and ordinary descriptions of them may be heard. His discourses about man's nature, and the way of Heaven, cannot be heard.
Mencius said, 'To act without understanding, and to do so habitually without examination, pursuing the proper path all the life without knowing its nature - this is the way of multitudes.'
Measurement owes its existence to Earth; Estimation of quantity to Measurement; Calculation to Estimation of quantity; Balancing of chances to Calculation; and Victory to Balancing of chances.
1. Wang-sun Chia asked, saying, "What is the meaning of the saying, 'It is better to pay court to the furnace than to the south-west corner?'" 2. The Master said, "Not so. He who offends against Heaven has none to whom he can pray.
Indirect tactics, efficiently applied, are inexhaustible as Heaven and Earth, unending as the flow of rivers and streams; like the sun and moon, they end but to begin anew; like the four seasons, they pass away but to return once more.
Tsze-kung asked, saying, "On what ground did Kung-wan get that title of Wan?" The Master said, "He was of an active nature and yet fond of learning, and he was not ashamed to ask and learn of his inferiors!—On these grounds he has been styled Wan.
Po-niu being ill, the Master went to ask for him. He took hold of his hand through the window, and said, "It is killing him. It is the appointment of Heaven, alas! That such a man should have such a sickness! That such a man should have such a sickness!
The general who is skilled in defence hides in the most secret recesses of the earth; he who is skilled in attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven. Thus on the one hand we have ability to protect ourselves; on the other, a victory that is complete.
The three families used the yung ode, while the vessels were being removed, at the conclusion of the sacrifice. The Master said, "'Assisting are the princes;—the son of heaven looks profound and grave:'—what application can these words have in the hall of the three families?
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Data: Wikiquote (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0); English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.