If you desire what is good, the people will be good. The character of a ruler is like wind and that of the people is like grass. In whatever direction the wind blows the grass always bends.

Confucius

Quoted in Analects

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Topic

Political leadership The masses Grass

Speaker

Confucius

Source

Analects

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

Chinese

Time

221 BC 220s BC 3rd century BC

Occupation

Philosopher

From

China Asia

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Confucius. 論語 [The Analects]. c. 479 BCE.

Current Citation

Confucius. The Analects, edited and translated by Annping Chin. Penguin Classics, 2014.

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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote about The masses

Only two things does he anxiously wish for-bread and circuses.

Juvenal

Satires

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More information about this quote
Topic
The masses Entertainment Purpose of life Decline of civilization

Author

Juvenal
Source
Satires
Medium
Poem
Language
Latin
Time
127 120s 2nd century
Era
Classical antiquity
Authentication Score 1
Original Citation

Juvenal. Satirae [Satires]. c. 127, satire 10.

Current Citation

Juvenal. The Satires, translated by Niall Rudd. Oxford University Press, 2008, satire 10.

Another quote originally in Chinese

Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be defeated.

Sun Tzu

The Art of War

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More information about this quote
Topic
Self-knowledge Enemies

Author

Sun Tzu
Source
The Art of War
Medium
Treatise
Genre
Military treatise
Statement Type
Advice
Language
Chinese
Time
475 BC 470s BC 5th century BC
Authentication Score 0
Original Citation

Sun Tzu. 孫子兵法 [The Art of War]. c. 475 BC, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Sun Tzu. The Art of War: The Essential Translation of the Classic Book of Life, translated by John Minford. Penguin Classics, 2009, ch. 3.

Another quote of the following type Metaphor, analogy and simile

Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind blows out candles and fans fires.

François de La Rochefoucauld

Reflections

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More information about this quote
Topic
Absence Missing someone

Author

François de La Rochefoucauld
Source
Reflections
Medium
Epigram
Statement Type
Metaphor, analogy and simile
Language
French
Time
1678 1670s 17th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

La Rochefoucauld, Francois. Reflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims]. c. 1665.

Current Citation

La Rochefoucauld, Francois. Collected Maxims and Other Reflections, translated by E. H. and A. M. Blackmore and Francine Giguere. Oxford University Press, 2008.