Since Confucius lived more than 2000 years ago, one might assume that his ideas might be archaic and useless in today's society. This, however, is far from the truth. Confucius' ideas and thoughts can still be applied today. This also applies to the government. Confucius' views on humanity (jen) and governing by personal virtue can be useful in governing a modern society. Jen is one of the most basic Confucian virtues and is also a vital term in Confucian thought. The word jen is translated primarily as humanity, although sometimes as benevolence or love. Confucius has many quotes about humanity that apply to government, even in a modern society (Change and Tradition 33). A quote from the Analects on Humanity that applies to government is the following: “Being able to practice five virtues anywhere in the world constitutes humanity…courtesy, magnanimity, good faith, diligence, and kindness. He who is courteous does not humiliate himself, he who is magnanimous conquers the multitude, he who is of good faith enjoys the trust of the people, he who is diligent achieves his goal, and he who is kind can obtain service from the people. (Change and Tradition 34). This quote tells how a ruler can gain support and trust, complete his goals, and gain service from his people simply by being human. A human person, according to Confucius, is magnanimous, that is, generous and indulgent. If a modern ruler were generous and forgiving, Confucius would argue that that person would gain the support of the masses. Furthermore, if the ruler had been of good faith, then there would have been trust in him. Diligence would enable a ruler to achieve his goal, and being kind would push the people to serve him. According to the Confucius quote, having and showing the five aspects of man......in the center of the card......because they can. Likewise, just because a ruler is not righteous does not mean that no one will follow him as Confucius claims. Take Nazi Germany for example. Few will argue that Hitler was a righteous man, yet millions of people followed his commands. Confucius' quote is good in nature, but its absoluteness is questionable. There are many aspects of Confucian thought that could be useful in governing a modern society. Some of these include Confucius' views on humanity (jen) and government based on personal virtue. Although these opinions offer good characteristics of a ruler and ways in which a ruler should rule, some of them are written as absolute. This is the difficulty of using Confucianism in a modern society. Although written as absolutes, many of his quotes truly are not. Regardless, modern government could benefit greatly from Confucius' views.