Born to a nobleman but raised in poverty from a very young age following the untimely death of his father, Confucius developed what would become a lifelong sympathy for the suffering of the common people.
In a parallel with Socrates, who lived about a century later, we know most of what Confucius taught through conversations that he had, and accounts of his disciples.
Anyone under the impression that he or she was merely cramming for a standardized exam was in for an awakening when my father offered a modern poem or a passage of Confucius or Plutarch's " Lives" to mull over.