Confucius didn't mean that
We often encounter fake "Oriental wisdom" that purports to come from the ancient sages. So much of it clogs the internet that it is very hard to keep track of what is genuine and what is false. And then there's the (in)famous pseudo-linguistics of the "Crisis = danger + opportunity" trope which has captured the occidental imagination.
Another type of distortion and misinformation concerning Chinese thought are actual quotations of an ancient sage's words that are misused and misinterpreted to imply something other than what was originally intended.
In "Things Confucius Never Said", The World of Chinese (10/9/21), Sun Jiahui has assembled a group of five such abused quotations attributed to Confucius. Since she has done such a superb job of presenting them, I will make only minor adaptations in giving them here.
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