Analects
<p>The <em><strong>Analects</strong></em> (<a title="Traditional Chinese characters" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_characters">Chinese</a>: <span lang="zh-Hant"><a class="extiw" title="wikt:論語" href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%AB%96%E8%AA%9E">論語</a></span>; <a title="Pinyin" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin">pinyin</a>: <em><span lang="zh-Latn-pinyin">Lúnyǔ</span></em>; <a title="Old Chinese" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Chinese">Old Chinese</a>: <em>*[r]u[n] ŋ(r)aʔ</em>; literally "Selected Sayings"<sup id="cite_ref-Nor13_1-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analects#cite_note-Nor13-1">[1]</a></sup> also known as the <em><strong>Analects of Confucius</strong></em>, is an ancient Chinese book composed of collection of sayings and ideas attributed to the Chinese philosopher <a title="Confucius" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius">Confucius</a> and his contemporaries, traditionally believed to have been compiled and written by Confucius's followers. It is believed to have been written during the <a title="Warring States period" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warring_States_period">Warring States period</a>(475–221 BC), and it achieved its final form during the mid-<a title="Han dynasty" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_dynasty">Han dynasty</a> (206 BC–220 AD). By the early Han dynasty the <em>Analects</em> was considered merely a "commentary" on the <a class="mw-redirect" title="Five Classics" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Classics">Five Classics</a>, but the status of the <em>Analects</em> grew to be one of the central texts of <a title="Confucianism" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism">Confucianism</a> by the end of that dynasty.</p>
<p>During the late <a title="Song dynasty" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_dynasty">Song dynasty</a> (960–1279) the importance of the <em>Analects</em> as a <a class="mw-redirect" title="Philosophical" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical">philosophy</a> work was raised above that of the older Five Classics, and it was recognized as one of the "<a class="mw-redirect" title="Four Books" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Books">Four Books</a>". The <em>Analects</em> has been one of the most widely-read and studied books in China for the last 2,000 years, and continues to have a substantial influence on Chinese and <a title="Eastern philosophy" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_philosophy#East_Asian_philosophies">East Asian thought and values</a> today.</p>
<p>Confucius believed that the welfare of a country depended on the moral cultivation of its people, beginning from the nation's leadership. He believed that individuals could begin to cultivate an all-encompassing sense of virtue through <em><a title="Ren (Confucianism)" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren(Confucianism)">ren</a></em>, and that the most basic step to cultivating <em>ren</em> was <a title="Filial piety" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filial_piety">devotion to one's parents</a> and older siblings. He taught that one's individual desires do not need to be suppressed, but that people should be educated to reconcile their desires via <a class="mw-redirect" title="Li (Confucian)" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li(Confucian)">rituals and forms of propriety</a>, through which people could demonstrate their respect for others and their responsible roles in society.</p>
<p>Confucius taught that a ruler's sense of <a title="De (Chinese)" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_(Chinese)">virtue</a> was his primary prerequisite for leadership. His primary goal in educating his students was to produce <a title="Junzi" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junzi">ethically well-cultivated men</a> who would carry themselves with gravity, speak correctly, and demonstrate consummate integrity in all things</p>