Threads
The Analects has no chapters by subject — its sayings on any one question are scattered across all twenty books. These threads gather them back together, so you can read the whole of what Confucius says on learning, on rule, on family, or on Heaven, in one sitting.
- Learning & Self-Cultivation xué · 97 sayings Study as a way of life — and the humility to know what you do not know.
- Benevolence & Humaneness rén · 25 sayings How a fully realised person feels for, and acts toward, others.
- Ritual & Propriety lǐ · 68 sayings Ceremony, courtesy, mourning, sacrifice — the forms that shape character.
- The Superior Man jūnzǐ · 73 sayings Confucius's exemplary person — and the mean man who is his foil.
- Family & Filial Piety xiào · 39 sayings Duty to parents and elders — the root from which virtue grows.
- Government & Rule zhèng · 156 sayings Governing by virtue and example rather than by law and punishment.
- Words, Friends & Good Faith xìn · 60 sayings Sincerity in speech, caution in promises, reliability among friends.
- Heaven, Fate & the Way tiān · 69 sayings Heaven's decree, destiny, death, and the moral order of things.
- Music, Odes & the Arts yuè · 35 sayings Poetry, music, and archery as instruments of cultivation.