Confucius was born into a deposed noble family which had recently fled from the State of Song.
Confucius was active during the fifth century B.C.E., the period that philosopher Karl Jaspers termed the Axial Age.
One of the deepest teachings of Confucius, and one of the hardest to understand from a Western point of view, may have been the superiority of exemplification over explicit rules of behavior.
Confucius's ideas were developed into a system of philosophy known as in the West as Confucianism that later spread to Korea and Japan.
The concept of benevolence is central to Confucius' teaching, and can best be understood as being humane.
Confucius characterized five types of relationships—between parents and children, between ruler and subjects, between husband and wife, between elder and younger siblings, and between friends—three of these are within the family.
Confucius's descendants were repeatedly identified and honored by successive imperial governments.
Soon after Confucius's death, Qufu, his hometown, became a place of devotion and remembrance.
Confucius was primarily interested in individual conduct and in social order and this did not say much about “religion” as Westerners understand it.
Alongside the Buddha, Socrates, Jesus, Mahavira from the ancient world, Confucius has been one of the most influential thinkers, and his whole teaching called for humane conduct.
Confucius believed that the family provides a model for the ideal functioning of society.
Confucius believed that society functions best when all members know, and perform their appropriate role.
Perhaps Confucius was both a philosopher and a religious sage.
When the civil service examination was introduced, Confucius' thought was the main subject.
In China, there are many temples where representations of Buddha, Lao Zi and Confucius are found together.
By not asking about the horses, Confucius demonstrated his greatest priority: human beings.
By then, Confucius had done all he could to bring Lu to its height and decided to leave.
The main rituals associated with Confucianism were a formalization of Confucius' stress on protocol and politeness, thus rituals associated with everyday life and special occasions were codified into a normative system.
The Records of the Grand Historian, compiled some four hundred years after Confucius' time, indicate that Confucius was conceived out of wedlock.
Confucius thus valued continuity and wanted to sustain China's ancient traditions (see Analects 7:1).
Confucius hated disorder and disunity and wanted to find ways to overcome the inter-family feuds that characterized the Spring and Autumn period.
Confucius' definition of the prerequisite for being a teacher is the ability to "review the past and recognize the new" (see Analects).
Confucius's disciples and only grandson, Zisi, continued his philosophical school after his death.
Venration of Confucius dates from around about 241 B.C.E., when sacrifices to his spirit were offered at the university in Biyong.
Confucius's teachings were later turned into a corps de doctrine by his numerous disciples and followers.