Confucius Didn't Say That! : The Book Edition

Welcome to my second post of Confucius Didn't Say That! 

My first post is here, so be polite and read that one first.

Please keep in mind, this is my way of deconstructing these quotes. One can simply look up if Confucius said any of this garbage in the Analects, The Great Learning or The Doctrine of the Mean but that would make for a short blog post, wouldn't it?

Ya know, I like to read and because I am a nerd, I prefer non-fiction. I just love learning for the sake of learning.  So, when I saw this "non-quote" on good ol' "Brainy Quote" and I decided it was time to tackle it on the blog:


You cannot open a book without learning something. -   Confucius 

This quote is everywhere on the web and not just Brainy Quote, so let's explore why Confucius didn't say it!

Look, I know it's pretty low-hanging fruit if you know a little bit about history. 

I'm going to be a bit of a nitpick. In the first place, paper wasn't even invented to the 2nd century AD, so "books" as we know it, weren't invented until well after that date, and even by then Confucius had been dead for about 600 years. 

I know you might be thinking I'm a stickler here because in the Analects, Confucius does refer to books. In fact, he often refers to one of the Five Classics, The Book of Odes. He encourages his disciples to read, recite and act upon its principles: 

[13:5] The Master said: “You can recite the 300 poems from the Book of Odes, but when you try to use them in administration, they are not effective, and in handling the outerlying regions, you cannot apply them, then even though you know a lot, what good is it?”

So, of course there were "books" in Confucius' time but they were likely on bamboo.  And this brings me to the second point about how we know this quote is not from Confucius' time.

The larger and more important point should be made about "reading culture" or "book culture". It simply didn't exist in the ancient world.  Even if a printing press was transported via time machine into the ancient world, the percent of people that could have read (and maybe more importantly, understand these books) was infinitesimally small. Even today, some estimate that only half the population of China are functionally literate. 

In the 5th century BCE, in China, I would guesstimate that around 5% of the general population would be literate. Maybe even upwards of 10% if you're feeling generous.  I  would also wager there would be an additional amount of people who could read some or a little for business purposes but the masses would be illiterate. The idea that a majority of people in a nation could be literate, reading any number of books would have been astounding to Confucius! In ancient times, even if you could read, you likely didn't own any (or many) books at all because they would be so expensive! 

Besides the technicality difficulties with the quote, the entire tone doesn't jibe with Confucius' beliefs or life. The purpose is to inspire or encourage people to read.  Confucius did not intend his teachings to be for a general audience, in fact, he had no idea any of his ideas would be recorded at all!  All of the work attributed to him was written by Confucian philosophers, likely over a hundred years after his death. 

 I also think Confucius' ideas of what would be appropriate for people to read would be very restrictive to say the least  (The Book of Odes will never be on the New York Times Best Seller List).  I don't think Confucius would think one could read, The Hunger Games and learn anything useful for one's character.  

Confucius's main audience was (or at least his aim and hope) was to reach government leaders or at least those that would one day hold a government position.  His hope was that in doing so, he would help the leaders bring about a new "Golden Era" based on the learning and ethics from the past. According to Confucius, all the answers were in the past, waited to be remembered and implemented. At worst, his expected audience would be other scholars and educated men of the day.   

One might imagine the quote isn't supposed to be for a general audience but I  find that doubtful. Confucius's sayings were hardly so basic or "on the nose" as this proverb is.  

Confucius didn't say this fake quote but there are a few quotes about learning that might suffice to substitute for its general theme. I found two somewhat similar quotes. The first is edited for length, while the second reveals his disgust for a lack of reading. All quotes in this post are from the Analects. 

[8:13] The Master said: “Be of unwavering good faith and love learning..."  


[11:23] Zi Lu got Zi Gao installed as Prefect of Bi. The Master said: “You are damaging someone's son.” Zi Lu said: “There are people and there are national altars (to be administered). Why should it be necessary to read books to be regarded as learned.” The Master said: “This is why I don't like glib people.”

It's also important to note that Confucius wasn't all about "learning for the sake of learning". For Confucian philosophers, there should be no separation between learning from self-cultivation.  

He was always one of those the "world's going to hell in a hand basket" type of guys, here we have a grumpy Confucius moment:   

[14:24] The Master said: “The ancient scholars studied for their own improvement. Modern scholars study to impress others.”

While many would emphasize actions over that of study or knowledge, in the next quote, Confucius reverses that expectation.  Confucius believed that without study (and of course, by "studying" he meant studying the books he deemed worthy of study) our actions will suffer accordingly. 

[17:6] The Master said: “You, have you heard the six phrases about the six distortions?” You answered that he hadn't. “Then stay a moment,” Confucius said, “and I will tell you.”

If you love being kind to others, but don't like to study, then your kindness will be distorted into simplicity.

If you love wisdom, but don't like to study, then your wisdom will be distorted into aimlessness.

If you love trustworthiness, but don't like to study, then your trust will be distorted into harm.

If you love candor, but don't like to study, your candor will be distorted into rudeness.

If you love boldness, but don't like to study, your boldness will be distorted into unruliness.

If you love persistence, but don't like to study, your persistence will be distorted into rashness.

So, there you have it, for Confucius, books were important but never for their own sake and always in the service of cultivating wisdom and morality. 

If Confucius didn't say it, then where's it from? 

Well, that's a good question. The first 5-7 pages of Google attributed the quote to Confucius. After more poking around I finally found some folks stating it is an "Irish proverb". Later, after even more digging, I also found others attributing the quote as a "Chinese Proverb". This book (published in 1898) has it recorded as a Chinese proverb this is also mentioned by several other books published in the 20th century . So, someone, somewhere likely associated it with the Chinese but mistakenly attributed it to Confucius. This is as far down the rabbit hole as I need to go.  If you care to dig further, be my guest!

Honestly, this proverb isn't very good, no matter who said it. 

Although it might make for a great quote for your local schools' "Summer Reading Program" handout, I find the quote rings false.  People read all the time and don't learn a thing!

Many students in my classes read the class materials and some refuse to learn. You know, one trite proverb deserves another, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink."

Finally, and more importantly, Confucius would remind us that we might "know" lots of things but it's useless if we don't "use" it to cultivate righteousness in ourselves and others.