When Confucius’ life was under threat in Kuang, he said, “King Wen is dead, but culture lives on in me. If Heaven intended for that culture to die off, those of us who came after wouldn’t have it. If Heaven doesn’t want to kill off this culture, what can the men of Kuang do to me?”
King Wen
19.22
Gongsun Chao, a counselor in Wei, asked Zigong , “Who did Confucius learn from?”
Zigong replied, “The way of King Wen and King Wu never completely disappeared. It always remained with the people. The worthy retained its major points and the unworthy retained its minor points. All of them had some aspects of the way of King Wen and King Wu.
“So there was no one from whom Confucius couldn’t have learned something and no single teacher from whom he could have learned everything.”