Confucius (551-479 BC), according to Chinese legend, was a thinker, political figure, educator, and the founder of the Ru School of Chinese thought. A hallmark of Confucius' thought is his emphasis(强调) on education and study. Study, for Confucius, means finding a good teacher and copying his words and behaviours. A good teacher is someone who knows the ways of the past and the practice of the ancients well.
While he sometimes warns against too much careful thought, Confucius' position appears to be a middle course between studying and thinking about what one has learned. "He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger." Confucius is believed to have taught three thousand students altogether, although only seventy are said to have truly mastered (掌握)the arts he loved. Confucius was ready to teach anyone, whatever their social standing, as long as they were eager to learn and study hard. He was said to teach his students about morality (道德), proper speech, the government, and the arts.
Moral education is important to Confucius because he believed that it was the way to restore meaning to language and values(价值)to society. He believed that the most important lessons for getting such a moral education were to be found in the Book of Songs, because many of its poems were both beautiful and good.