Every word and action of Confucius were full of such meaning to his admiring followers that they have enabled us to trace him into the retirement of

"If any one among the princes would employ me," said he, "I would effect something considerable in the course of twelve months, and in three years the

His life in politics and his adventures is not the image we have of Confucius.Continuing Confucius,our selection from Confucianism and Taouism by

But even Confucius found it impossible to carry all his theories into practice, and his experience as Minister of Crime taught him that something more

Courage was recognized by Confucius as being one of the great virtues, and about this period we have related two instances in which he showed that he

This was no time for Confucius to take office, and he devoted the leisure thus forced upon him to the compilation of the "Book of Odes" and the "Book

Soon after his marriage, at the instigation of poverty, Confucius accepted the office of keeper of the stores of grain, and in the following year he