Korean scholar Kim Ik-ju stated: Confucius is the sage of all ages and the progenitor of Eastern philosophical thought.

Ito Jinsai, founder of the Japanese Ancient Learning School, said: “The virtue of the Master truly surpasses the Way and all other sages; the Way of the Master is higher than Heaven and Earth.”

Japanese scholar Kojima Kenkichirō said: “Confucius is the greatest among the great, the most sacred among sages.”

Japanese scholar Kanno Michiaki stated: “Since ancient times, works such as the Analects have been regarded as supreme sacred classics. From emperors of successive dynasties down to common townsfolk, all have studied them tirelessly.” (Commemoration of the 2540th anniversary of Confucius’ birth)

British missionary Timothy Richard (1845–1919) said: “China is the nation most renowned for moral cultivation and has endured for thousands of years. I believe this is the achievement of Confucius. Though I belong to Christianity, I delight in hearing and learning the Way of Confucius.”

British philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said: “China, based on the teachings of Confucius, established a great Chinese empire”; “Europeans all say that without Confucianism China’s morality would collapse—this statement I strongly agree with”; “What China most urgently needs is not the absorption of Western culture, but the revival of its own ancient Eastern civilization”; “Chinese scholarship was already brilliantly complete more than 2,000 years ago. If it were reorganized and revived, its influence on the world would be immense, making a unique contribution. In the end, China might become a cultural center of the world.”

British historian and philosopher Arnold Toynbee (1889–1975) said: “The only teachings capable of helping to solve the problems of the twenty-first century are the doctrines of Confucius and Mencius.”

British historian of science Joseph Needham (1900–1995) said: “Confucius is an uncrowned king.”

French thinker Voltaire said: “The East has found a sage; in morality, Europeans should be disciples of the Chinese.”

French scholar Voltaire (1694–1778) said: “The East has found a wise man. I read the works of Confucius with complete concentration and absorbed their essence. All of Confucius’ writings contain the purest moral principles. The happiest and most respectable age on earth is when people follow the regulations of Confucius. In moral matters, Europeans ought to become disciples of the Chinese.

“Confucius influenced others through morality, not through religious fanaticism or personal worship. China possesses the most perfect political system; its civil service system enables people from the lower classes to rise into the ruling elite. The sage is Confucius, the legislator of humanity. No legislator has ever proclaimed truths more useful to the world than Confucius.”

German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716), in Discourse on the Natural Theology of the Chinese, “warmly praised Confucianism.”

German scholar Adolf Reichwein (1898–1944) said: “Confucius was the guardian spirit of the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century; his teachings were the plain and sincere gospel of the entire Enlightenment movement.”

Sir Reginald Johnston (1874–1938), the English tutor of the last Qing emperor Puyi, said: “China’s political, religious, and cultural traditions are founded on Confucianism. No foreign religion, however refined, can stand alongside Confucianism in China.”

Hans Küng (1928–2021), a renowned professor at the University of Tübingen and principal drafter of the 1993 Parliament of the World’s Religions’ Declaration Toward a Global Ethic, said: “Thirty years ago, when I first read the Analects, I felt I must go to China. In 1979, I made a special trip to Qufu, Confucius’ hometown, which left a profound impression on me. Confucius is a sage of wisdom and is extremely important to the global ethic I advocate. Today, global morality is collapsing; ethics must take priority over economics and politics, and consumerism and material utilitarianism are also influencing China. People seem to have forgotten Confucius’ teachings.” Küng further said: “Chinese ethics are the cornerstone of world ethics. The principles of ren (humaneness) and shu (reciprocity) proposed by Confucius are the golden rules of global ethics.”

Former German President Johannes Rau (1931–2006) said: “The ancient Chinese sage Confucius is widely known in Germany, and his profound sayings offer deep inspiration.”

At the entrance of a park in Berlin stands a marble statue of Confucius over two meters tall. On its granite pedestal is engraved the Confucian maxim: “Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.” Germans regard Confucius, together with Kant, as a founder of educational philosophy.

Western civilization is highly developed, but its original driving force is nearing exhaustion. Insightful thinkers have turned to the East in search of new sources. American scholar Ezra Vogel (1930–2020), in Japan as Number One, called on the West to open new ways of thinking. While Asia’s economy has developed rapidly, he questioned Max Weber’s assertion that “only Protestant ethics give rise to the spirit of capitalism.” Some have termed the “East Asian economic model” as “Eastern Confucian capitalism,” with Confucian culture becoming a fundamental social value system.

Japan ranks first globally in moral standards, and its morality derives from Confucius. Surveys of Japanese moral quality place it first in the world: the people are courteous, crime rates are low, and this moral foundation comes from Confucianism.

On January 8, 1996, the Financial Times of London published an article titled “Confucian Rules: America Could Learn Valuable Social Lessons from Asia,” stating: “If the United States encouraged people to adopt Confucian teachings, society would benefit enormously.”

In 1999, Random House in the United States published The Confucian Next Door: How Eastern Wisdom Is Transforming Western Lives, which stated: “If Confucian teachings are firmly upheld, social miracles will accompany economic miracles.”

The Japanese have applied Confucius’ Doctrine of the Mean to corporate management, calling it “middle-way management,” and have achieved great success. Takenori Mitsuhiro interpreted “the Mean” as “reasonable, proper, and lawful,” namely “rationalized management.” This is summarized as M-management: Man, Medium, Management.

Lee Kuan Yew said that Singapore’s achievements were merely a “single-track train,” lacking the Confucian moral “dual-track train.”

The Chinese Communist Party once praised Singapore’s success in governing through Confucian ideas and sought to learn from it. However, Lee Kuan Yew said that although Singapore’s per capita annual income had reached 70,000 U.S. dollars, surpassing that of the United States, and material conditions were sufficient, it was still only a “single-track train.” Culture, thought, scholarship, and art had all been sacrificed. Utilitarianism prevailed, and achievements in humaneness and moral spirit were lacking. Only by advancing and elevating the spiritual and intellectual dimensions could a balanced and steady “dual-track train” be achieved.

Before his death, Lee Kuan Yew also predicted that under Communist Party rule, China would not develop a democratic system and would be unable to implement multiparty politics or one-person-one-vote elections. As for parliamentary systems, at best they might appear at the local township level, but not at the central government in Beijing.

Just as Greek civilization and Hebrew–Christian civilization belong to the world, so too does the Confucian civilization of China belong to the world.

In the eighteenth century, the United States began to embrace Confucius, thereby enriching American civilization.

In the twenty-first century, after China abandons communism and removes the damage inflicted on Confucian civilization by Marxism–Leninism–Maoism, the United States and the world will inevitably further embrace Confucian civilization, enriching modern universal civilization even more.