PDF Summary:The Analects, by Confucius

Confucius is one of the most famous philosophers in history, but what did he actually say? The Analects is a collection of Confucius’s teachings compiled by his most devoted students, and it’s one of the foundational books of Confucianism. In it, you’ll find lessons about how to be a good learner, person, and leader.

This guide arranges the lessons within The Analects into four key topics. We’ll begin with a brief overview of the traditional beliefs and texts that form the foundation of Confucianism. We’ll then review Confucius’s lessons about how to learn, how to conduct yourself, and how to be an effective leader. In our commentary, we’ll compare and contrast Confucianism with other influential philosophies like Stoicism, and we’ll examine the historical and cultural context of Confucius’s lessons. We’ll also provide some concrete methods for putting Confucius’s teachings into practice.

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How to Find the Right People

Naturally, finding the right people to befriend means that you have to know how to evaluate people. As we discussed previously, you can evaluate people by closely observing their good and bad qualities. Now, however, Confucius specifically recommends judging people’s actions rather than their words. It’s easy for people to say the right things and pretend that they have strong moral character, but much more difficult for them to actually do the right things.

(Shortform note: Confucius urges you to judge people’s actions rather than their words, but some psychologists argue that speaking is also an action. Therefore, it shouldn’t be treated differently from other kinds of actions. Further, they note, everything a person does—including speaking—is goal-oriented. Therefore, the best way to learn about people is by figuring out what they want. What goals are they trying to achieve? Are those goals compatible with your beliefs and values?)

You can gain additional insight into people’s characters, and whether they share your artistic and cultural interests, by observing where they feel most at home. For example, someone who’s most comfortable in a crowded bar is a very different kind of person from someone who’s happiest in a quiet library. Make sure that you and your friends are happy to spend time in the same places; that’s a good sign that your interests and personalities are compatible.

(Shortform note: Many adults find it difficult to make new friends. Confucius’s advice to look for people who enjoy spending time in the same places that you do may be particularly helpful in solving that problem; just go places you enjoy and you’re likely to meet people who have similar interests and personalities to yours. If you still have trouble meeting people, you could try joining a group that meets regularly, such as a gaming club or a Bible study group.)

How to Be a Good Person

Confucius generally encourages students to think and learn for themselves, but he offers more direct advice about morality. He says that a single word can guide everything you do: the Chinese word shu, which means don’t do to others what you wouldn't want to be done to you.

(Shortform note: Shu seems to be a fairly straightforward concept, but there’s debate about how to translate the word itself. Some scholars say that it means self-reflection—you imagine yourself in others’ positions, “reflecting” yourself onto them and thereby developing empathy. Others translate it as reciprocity, saying that shu refers to the relationship between yourself and others; if you treat others well then they will treat you well, and if you treat them poorly then they’ll treat you poorly. Other translations of shu include respect, deference, and altruism.)

However, while shu is a good foundation for moral behavior, Confucius adds that causing no harm isn’t enough to be a truly good person. Rather, a good person is someone who’s respectful, honest, hardworking, and kind (qualities we’ll further explore in the next few sections). In other words, to be a good person, you must do your best to make the world a better place.

The “Gentleman” and the “Petty Man”

The Analects frequently uses the term gentleman (Chinese: junzi) when discussing proper conduct. Scholars debate whether Confucius means gentleman in the sense of “someone of high social status” or “someone of good moral character.”

Further, Confucius contrasts the gentleman with the petty man (Chinese: xiaoren). Again, it’s unclear whether this means someone of low social standing or someone of poor character.

To make this section applicable to as many readers as possible, we’ll assume the latter: Confucius meant that anyone of good moral character would follow these guidelines, and people of poor moral character would not.

In this section, we’ll highlight four of Confucius’s insights on how to be a good person.

Hard Work

As previously noted, Confucius conveys that working hard is part of being a good person. He adds that putting forth your best effort has personal benefits, so there are reasons for even a selfish person to do so. Hard work will bring you satisfaction—namely, if you always do your best, then you’ll be satisfied with your efforts regardless of their outcomes. For example, if you do your best at work and still get laid off, at least you’ll know that it wasn’t your fault.

On the other hand, if you don’t give your best effort, you’ll feel unsettled and guilty because you’ll know that you could have done more. For instance, if you slack off at work and then get laid off, you’ll feel guilty and anxious, wondering if you might have kept your job if you’d just worked harder at it.

(Shortform note: Contrary to what Confucius says here, you may find that trying your best and still not getting the outcome you want is more upsetting than failing due to a lack of effort. While you may not feel guilty and anxious, you might feel like there’s nothing more you can do. When this happens, remember that every failure can be both a lesson and motivation to spur you beyond your previous best. As long as you don’t give up, each failure will bring you closer to success.)

Confucius also advises you to adjust your life so that you can do your best. This could mean changing where you live, where you work, who you spend time with, or anything else—if something gets in the way of you living well and doing your best work, it’s not worth holding on to.

(Shortform note: It can be hard to know whether a particular situation is helping you do your best, especially if it’s a job or a relationship that you’ve been in for a long time. In that case, you may find yourself staying with something out of habit rather than because it’s actually helping you. In the case of a job, it may be time to move on if you’re feeling unmotivated, bored, or like your goals aren’t important to the people around you. In the case of a relationship, it might be time to move on if you find yourself perpetually annoyed with your partner, if they disrespect you (or vice versa), or if there’s distance between you.)

Help Yourself by Working Hard for Others

Philosophers from many different schools of thought believe that making the world a better place isn’t just a moral duty but also the best way to live a satisfying life. In other words, even from a selfish perspective, working hard and doing your best for others is worth the effort—by helping other people, you’ll also make yourself happy.

For example, Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations—one of the definitive texts on Stoicism—says that working for the common good is the only way to live a happy and fulfilling life. Aurelius’s reasoning is that, to feel fulfilled, you must have a consistent goal and spend your life working toward that goal. However, people are naturally inconsistent; your personal desires and goals will change frequently. Therefore, any fulfilling goal must be selfless rather than oriented around your ever-changing personal preferences.

Honesty

Confucius teaches that honesty is another key part of proper conduct—a good person must be trustworthy.

When Confucius discusses honesty, he doesn’t just mean not telling lies. You should also try to be honest in your thoughts. In other words, avoid unfair biases; strive to see people, things, and situations as they are instead of as you expect (or want) them to be.

(Shortform note: In Meditations, Aurelius offers some advice on how to avoid biased thoughts. He suggests that you practice identifying things by thinking about their component parts—for instance, if you see a beautiful painting, you could identify it as simply an arrangement of colored paints on a piece of canvas. By doing so, you disrupt whatever emotional response you would normally have to that painting, allowing you to remain logical and unbiased.)

Honesty also means being frank about your skills and knowledge: Don’t inflate your abilities, but don’t sell yourself short, either. In short, know your own worth and be honest about it. For example, don’t pad your resume with skills or experience you don’t have, but don’t accept a job you’re overqualified for—find a job that will make use of your skills and pay you fairly for them.

To avoid accidentally telling lies, Confucius recommends not talking about your plans or goals because you’ll be ashamed if your actions don’t live up to your words. Instead, take action first, and only talk about it afterward. For instance, a boxer who says that he’s going to be a world champion will feel ashamed if he never reaches that goal, even though he intended to become the champion and tried his hardest to do so.

(Shortform note: As a counterpoint to Confucius, publicly announcing what you intend to do can create strong motivation to do it. In Awaken the Giant Within, self-help author Tony Robbins suggests telling your friends or family about your goals because that creates pressure—people will hold you accountable as you work toward your goals. They’ll hopefully cheer you on, too.)

Finally, Confucius says that an honest person must avoid hypocrisy. He suggests that you ask yourself at the end of each day whether you gave any advice that you don’t personally follow. If so, change either your actions or your teachings so that you can avoid such hypocrisy in the future.

(Shortform note: Hypocrisy—discrepancies between what you think or say and what you do—could come from contradictions in your morals that you’re not aware of. For example, you might believe that violence is always wrong but find yourself in a situation where you have to fight in self-defense. In that moment, you’d realize that your belief in pacifism conflicts with your desire to protect yourself. Note that this hypocrisy doesn’t mean you’re a bad person; it just means that you need to reexamine your beliefs and consider whether there are situations in which it’s appropriate to do the thing you usually avoid.)

Find Your Purpose Through Honesty

Confucius discusses being honest with yourself so you can find jobs, relationships, and so on that suit your needs and abilities. In Ikigai, the authors go a step further; they say that you can find your purpose in life by asking yourself four questions and answering them honestly:

1. What do I love?

2. What am I good at?

3. What does the world need?

4. What can I get paid for?

If you can find something that answers all four questions, you’ll have found your ikigai—your purpose, or reason for being.

Altruism

Since Confucius defines a good person as someone who strives to improve the world, he believes that good people must be altruistic: They act to help others rather than for personal gain. Confucius describes this using the Chinese word ren, translated as “humaneness” or “humanity.” For him, ren means always striving to live up to the moral standards he sets throughout the Analects, no matter what. He says that good people would rather die than compromise their morals.

Confucius also offers two concrete suggestions for living altruistically. First, should you find yourself in an unfair or immoral culture, it’s acceptable to say whatever you must to protect yourself—but under no circumstances should you do anything immoral or cruel. Have the courage to live by your values at any cost.

(Shortform note: Keeping to your values even under threat of death is a moral standard from Confucius. By most legal standards, you’re allowed to do what you must to protect yourself. For example, at the Nuremberg trials after World War II, the judges wrote that no court would punish people for what they did while they had guns (literal or metaphorical) pressed to their heads—while they were under threat of punishment or death if they disobeyed.)

Second, frugality is another important aspect of altruism. Since altruism is the opposite of selfishness, altruistic people try not to take more than they need. They’re happy to live modestly, with a small home and simple food. Confucius says obsessing over material goods when you already have enough to live on is a waste of energy that would be better spent helping others.

(Shortform note: Some studies suggest that frugal and modest living is becoming more popular and widespread in the modern world, particularly among younger people. The possible reasons behind this frugality differ from Confucius’s justification of avoiding wasting energy: Modern consumers may choose frugality due to financial concerns, job insecurity, a heightened awareness of the environmental impact of certain purchases, and a wish to become more minimalist.)

Effortless Action

Confucius teaches that, for good people, proper conduct seems effortless—they simply know the right thing to do and do it. For that reason, he considers effortless action to be proof of good moral character. To describe this concept, he uses the term wuwei, a Chinese word that can mean action without effort or simply inaction.

(Shortform note: The Tao Te Ching provides some insight on how to practice wuwei: Let go of your personal ambitions and desires. Lao Tzu says that desire and ambition cloud your judgment, causing you to use your time and energy inefficiently. On the other hand, a selfless person isn’t distracted by ambition or desire and is therefore able to act in harmony with the people and things around them. For example, a selfish person might hesitate to help someone in trouble if he’s running late for an appointment or is worried about putting himself in danger. A selfless person would simply recognize that someone’s in danger and take action without wasting time and effort thinking about it.)

Effortless action seems to go against the earlier principle of hard work, but that’s because the work of wuwei is internal and therefore invisible to others. In other words, instead of struggling to do the right thing (external, visible effort), you struggle to turn yourself into the kind of person who always does the right thing (internal, invisible effort).

One of the main benefits of effortless action is that it keeps you focused on things you can control: namely, the internal, invisible effort of shaping your actions and qualifications. For example, you can’t control what people think of you, but you can work on becoming the type of person that people tend to think well of—polite, respectful, generous, and so on.

(Shortform note: Focusing on things that you can control may be a way to avoid frustration and build a sense of satisfaction with your life. In A Guide to the Good Life, philosophy professor William Irvine says that focusing your attention on what other people do is giving those people control over your happiness. For example, if you think the only way you can be happy is to get accepted into your dream school, you’re putting your happiness in the hands of that school’s admissions department. Instead, try following Confucius’s advice: Focus on becoming the type of person that school would accept (get good grades, do extracurricular activities, and so on), rather than fretting about whether they’re actually going to accept you.)

Take Small Steps Toward Big Changes

The Analects contains a lot of different lessons and advice about how to become a person who does the right thing—enough that integrating it all into your life at once may seem overwhelming. In Atomic Habits, James Clear offers some helpful advice: You don’t have to make dramatic changes to your life all at once. Instead, make small tweaks, and you’ll be surprised at how those little changes build on one another to create huge improvements.

For example, instead of promising to never lie again, maybe choose one uncomfortable truth to share. That will get you a little more comfortable with telling the truth, and you’ll find that it’s easier the next time. Continuing this process, you’ll eventually find that telling the truth comes naturally to you—effortlessly, as Confucius would say.

How to Be a Good Leader

Confucius says that the main goal of his lessons is to turn you into an effective leader. A good leader must be learned and moral, which we’ve covered in the previous sections. They must also realize their own potential and help others realize theirs. Confucius’s lessons about how to do this boil down to using your resources wisely. Time and people are two of a leader’s most important (and most limited) resources. Getting the most out of those two resources is the hallmark of an effective leader.

Get the Most From Your Time

Confucius offers advice for how to use time wisely in both the short and long term to maximize productivity.

In the short term, focus on your own duties each day; don’t interfere with others’ tasks except to correct their mistakes. Also, help other people spend their time wisely by being realistic about what they can accomplish in a day. If you assign them new duties, make sure you’re taking away other duties instead of just piling on more tasks and assuming they’ll all get done.

(Shortform note: A common mistake leaders and managers make is assuming that people—including themselves—will be busy and productive the entire time they’re working. As a result, they plan more work than can reasonably be accomplished, and people either fall behind or get stressed and exhausted as they struggle to keep up with their workloads. One rule of thumb is to assign people and yourself around 80% of the workload you and they can theoretically handle, which leaves a comfortable buffer for mistakes, setbacks, and breaks.)

For the long term, set big goals, then work toward them slowly and steadily. If you don’t plan for the future, you’ll constantly scramble to deal with crises in the present, which is stressful and inefficient.

Finally, note that using time effectively doesn’t mean trying to get things done as quickly as possible—rather, Confucius advises you to take whatever time you need to do things correctly. Pay close attention to detail, and follow all applicable rules and procedures; don’t cut corners, and don’t allow your workers to do so either.

(Shortform note: Leaders and workers alike tend to start cutting corners when they feel stressed or rushed, or when they don’t understand why certain procedures and rules are in place. Therefore, to make sure that people (including yourself) are doing their jobs correctly, you’ll have to effectively manage their time and their workloads so they don’t become overworked. Also, if someone is frequently ignoring procedures, talk with that person to make sure they understand why those procedures exist and what could happen if they’re not followed.)

Use Your Time Wisely By Prioritizing Your Tasks and Goals

In First Things First, Stephen Covey gives further advice for planning ahead and managing your time. First, he suggests writing down everything you know you need to do—whether short-term or long-term—and dividing those tasks into categories based on their importance and their urgency. Things that are both important and urgent, like a doctor's appointment or a time-sensitive report, are things that you should do right away. For things that are important but not urgent, like big goals, schedule time to do them.

By following this prioritization method, you’ll handle most of your important tasks before they become urgent, meaning that you won’t be constantly racing to handle emergencies. Also, if an emergency does arise, you’ll have the time to deal with it. As a result, you’ll have more time to work slowly and steadily on tasks that are important but not urgent, such as your big goals.

Get the Most From Your People

The essence of leadership is getting the best work possible out of your people. Confucius gives several pieces of advice on how to do so.

Tip 1: Foster Trust

First and foremost, your people must trust you as a leader; otherwise, you won’t be able to accomplish anything. Confucius believes that trust is essential because not everyone will understand the reasons behind your orders. Therefore, you need to know that your people will do what you ask out of trust, even if they don’t understand why it needs to be done.

Give Workers a “Why” to Increase Compliance

In Humanocracy, the authors echo Confucius’s emphasis on compliance: They say that compliance is the foundation of any organization. It’s the first thing you need to establish when building an organization because it’s impossible to run one if your workers don’t listen to you.

However, some experts say workers are most compliant when they do understand the “why” behind their orders. For instance, in Start With Why, Simon Sinek says that it’s very important for workers to understand the reasons behind what they’re doing. They at least need to know the organization’s overall mission and how they’re supporting it, if not the specific reasons behind every order you give. People who are passionate about a company’s mission will work harder, innovate more, and be more resilient in the face of setbacks and frustrations. This is because they’re working for a cause, and not just for a paycheck.

Tip 2: Set an Example

Second, trust will enable you to coach your workers effectively and correct their mistakes—if they don’t trust you, they won’t take your coaching to heart. Confucius suggests setting an example by publicly admitting and correcting your own mistakes.

Doing so will encourage your people to correct their mistakes without waiting for your orders. It’ll also stop people from resenting you when you do have to correct them because they know that you treat yourself the same way; they know that you’re not just picking on them.

(Shortform note: Some business experts would say that Confucius’s conception of leadership here includes elements of both management and leadership. According to these experts, management is about control: It’s the process of guiding people toward specific goals, which includes correcting their mistakes (as Confucius recommends). On the other hand, Confucius’s recommendation that you set an example by publicly admitting your mistakes is what these business experts would call leadership. They say that leadership is about inspiration and empowerment: You encourage people to want to do their best work rather than just doing as they’ve been told. Leading by example is a crucial part of leadership.)

Tip 3: Reward Your Workers

People also like to know that they’ll be recognized for their work. Therefore, reward your best workers with recognition, promotions, and bonuses to encourage them to continue doing good work for you.

Confucius notes an additional benefit of this tactic: People who don’t get rewarded will either leave or strive to do better work in hopes of getting their own reward. Either outcome works to your benefit.

(Shortform note: Rewarding your best people doesn’t just encourage others to follow their example. It’s also a sign that you notice and appreciate the work those people are putting in. When people feel appreciated at work, they’re more productive and less likely to quit. In other words, rewarding your best workers will make them even better workers and help you hold onto them for longer.)

Tip 4: Be Honest With Your Superiors

Finally, Confucius notes, even leaders usually have people above them in the hierarchy, and it’s important that they trust you as well. So, when dealing with your superiors, speak honestly and frankly—prove to them that you’re trustworthy, and get them used to hearing you speak your mind.

(Shortform note: Speaking honestly and frankly with your superiors includes owning up to your mistakes. You might be tempted to hide your mistakes to protect your reputation, but admitting them and (if necessary) explaining how you intend to fix them can earn you a great deal more respect from higher-ups. Most importantly, you’ll develop the reputation for honesty that Confucius recommends cultivating.)