Mencius Famous Quotes
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If you love men and they are unfriendly, look into your love; if you rule men and they are unruly, look into your wisdom; if you are courteous to them and they do not respond, look into your courtesy. If what you do is vain, always seek within.
There are people dying from famine on the roads, and you do not issue the stores of your granaries for them. When people die, you say, 'it is not owing to me, it is owing to the year.' In what does this differ from stabbing a man and killing him, and then saying, 'it was not I, it was the weapon?
Only those who develop their minds and spirits to the utmost can serve Heaven and fulfill their own destinies.
To act without clear understanding, to form habits without investigation, to follow a path all one's life without knowing where it really leads; such is the behavior of the multitude.
Is it only the mouth and belly which are injured by hunger and thirst? Men's minds are also injured by them.
Where it is permissible both to die and not to die, it is an abuse of valour to die.
Integrity, wisdom, skill, intelligence – such things are forged in adversity.
Let men decide firmly what they will not do, and they will be free to do vigorously what they ought to do.
If the prince of a State love benevolence, he will have no opponent in all the empire.
The Way lies at hand yet it is sought afar off; the thing lies in the easy yet it is sought in the difficult.
To lay hold of the mean without taking into account the occasion is like grasping one thing only.
The way of truth is like a great road. It is not difficult to know it. The evil is only that men will not seek it.
Kindly words do not enter so deeply into men as a reputation for kindness.
The foundation of the world lies in the nation. The foundation of the nation lies in the family. The foundation of the family lies in the individual.
There is the work of great men and there is the work of little men. Therefore it is said, 'Some labor with their minds and some labor with their strength. Those who labor with their minds govern others; those who labor with their strength are governed by others.'1 Those who are governed by others support them; those who govern them are supported by them. This is a universal principle.
Every duty is a charge, but the charge of oneself is the root of all others.
A trail through the mountains, if used, becomes a path in a short time, but, if unused, becomes blocked by grass in an equally short time.
Let not a man do what his sense of right bids him not to do, nor desire what it forbids him to desire. This is sufficient. The skillful artist will not alter his measures for the sake of a stupid workman.
I dislike death, however, there are some things I dislike more than death. Therefore, there are times when I will not avoid danger.
The man of true greatness never loses his child's heart.
The way of learning is none other than finding the lost mind.
Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence
A great man is he who has not lost the heart of a child.
When men are subdued by force, they do not submit in their minds, but only because their strength is inadequate. When men are subdued by power in personality they are pleased to their very heart's core and do really submit.
The path of duty lies in what is near, and men seek for it in what is remote; the work of duty lies in what is easy, and men seek for it in what is difficult.
One who believes all of a book would be better off without books
If you know the point of balance, You can settle the details. If you can settle the details, You can stop running around. Your mind will become calm. If your mind becomes calm, You can think in front of a tiger. If you can think in front of a tiger, You will surely succeed.
Don't do what should not be done, and don't desire what should not be desired. Abide by this one precept, and everything else will follow.
The Tao is near and people seek it far away.
It is true that water will flow indifferently to east and west, but will it flow equally well up and down? Human nature is disposed toward goodness, just as water tends to flow downwards. There is no water but flows downwards, and no man but shows his tendency to be good. Now, by striking water hard, you may splash it higher than your forehead, and by damming it, you may make it go uphill. But, is that the nature of water? It is external force that causes it to do so. Likewise, if a man is made to do what is not good, his nature is being similarly forced.
The way of truth is like a great highway. It is not hard to find.
A real man is he whose goodness is a part of himself.
If you know that a thing is unrighteous, then use all dispatch in putting an end to it
why wait till next year?
A small country cannot contend with a great; the few cannot contend with the many; the weak cannot contend with the strong
I am not fond of disputation; I have no alternative.
If the king loves music, there is little wrong in the land.
By exhaustively examining one's own mind,one may understand his nature.One who understands his own nature understands Heaven.
Never has a man who has bent himself been able to make others straight.
The ways are two: love and want of love. That is all.
That's like climbing a tree to find a fish.
Words that defy reality are ominous. And it's ominous reality that confronts those who would obscure the wise and worthy.
There are things a person wants more than life and there are also things he or she loathes more than death.
Friendship with a man is friendship with his virtue.
The people turn in allegiance to Humanity, as surely as water flows downward or as a wild animal takes cover in the wilderness.
He who outrages benevolence is called a ruffian: he who outrages righteousness is called a villain. I have heard of the cutting off of the villain Chow, but I have not heard of the putting of a ruler to death.
Human nature is disposed to do good.
Treat your elders as elders, and extend it to the elders of others; treat your young ones as young ones, and extend it to the young ones of others; then you can turn the whole world in the palm of your hand
People are distressed by their inability to do it. The problem, however, is simply that they don't do it.
The feeling of right or wrong is the beginning of wisdom
When one by force subdues men, they do not submit to him in heart. They submit because their strength is not adequate to resist.
There's only one way to know if people are good or evil: look at the choices they make. We each contain precious and worthless, great and small. Never injure the great for the sake of the small, or the precious for the sake of the worthless. Small people nurture what is small in them; great people nurture what is great in them.
Human-heartedness is man's mind. Righteousness is man's path. How sad that he abandons that path and does not rely on it; that he loses that mind and does not know to seek it. When a man has lost a cock or a dog, he knows to seek it, but having lost his (proper) mind, he does not know to seek it. The Way of Learning is nothing other than seeking the lost mind
The poor attend to their own virtue in solitude.
He who respects others is respected by them.
He who attends to his greater self becomes a great man, and he who attends to his smaller self becomes a small man.
Men must be decided on what they will not do, and then they are able to act with vigor in what they ought to do.
With melted snow I boil fragrant tea.
Benevolence is one of the distinguishing characters of man.
The people are the most important element in a nation; the spirits of the land and grain are the next; the sovereign is the least.
A man must first despise himself, and then others will despise him.
Never has there been one possessed of complete sincerity who did not move others. Never has there been one who had not sincerity who was able to move others.
When Heaven is about to confer a great office on a man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and his sinews and bones with toil ; it exposes his body to hunger, and subjects him to extreme poverty ; it confounds his undertakings. By all these methods it stimulates his mind, hardens his nature, and supplies his incompetencies.
Only when someone refuses to do certain things will he be capable of doing great things.
The heart of compassion is the germ of benevolence; the heart of shame, of dutifulness; the heart of courtesy and modesty, of observance of the rites; the heart of right and wrong, of wisdom. Man has these four germs just as he has four limbs. For a man possessing these four germs to deny his own potentialities is for him to cripple himself.
If a man does great deeds, then amongst his descendants in generations to come there will be one who will become a true King. All a gentleman can do in starting an enterprise is to leave behind a tradition which can be carried on. Heaven alone can grant success. What can you do about [your endeavours]? You can only try your best to do good.
Friends are the siblings God never gave us
The root of the kingdom is in the state. The root of the state is in the family. The root of the family is in the person of its head.
In abundance prepare for scarcity.
Sincerity is the way to heaven; to think how to be sincere is the way of man.
The feeling of commiseration is the beginning of humanity; the feeling of shame and dislike is the beginning of righteousness; the feeling of deference and compliance is the beginning of propriety; and the feeling of right or wrong is the beginning of wisdom.Men have these Four Beginnings just as they have their four limbs. Having these Four Beginnings, but saying that they cannot develop them is to destroy themselves.
All tongues savor the same flavors, all ears hear the same music, and all eyes see the same beauty.
For nurturing the mind, there's nothing like paring your desires away to a very few. If you have few desires, there may still be some capricious whims in your mind, but they'll be few. If you have many desires, there may be some enduring principles in your mind, but they'll be few indeed.
If someone stops where they should not, they'll stop anywhere. If someone slights a person they should treat generously, they'll slight anyone. And if someone races ahead, they retreat in a hurry.
221. "Great is the man who has not lost his childlike heart."~
Incessant falls teach men to reform, and distress rouses their strength. Life springs from calamity, and death from ease.
The fruit of humanity is devotion to one's parents. The fruit of righteousness is to respect one's elders. The fruit of wisdom is to understand these two and not to betray them. The fruit of propriety is to regulate and polish them. The fruit of music is the joy that comes from rejoicing in them. When one rejoices in them, they grow. When they grow, how can they be stopped? And when they cannot be stopped, unconsciously one's feet begin to dance and one's arms begin to wave.
Listen to a man's words and look at the pupil of his eye. How can a man conceal his character?
I like fish, and I also like bear's paws. If I cannot have the two together, I will let the fish go, and take the bear's paws. So, I like life, and I also like righteousness. If I cannot keep the two together, I will let life go, and choose righteousness.
He who loves others is constantly loved by them. He who respects others is constantly respected by them.
All things are complete within ourselves.
All beneath Heaven is rooted in nation. Nation is rooted in family. And family is rooted in self.
Without effective protection of the citizens' right to property, it will be difficult to attract and accumulate valuable capital.
He who wishes to be benevolent will not be rich.
All things are already complete in us. There is no greater delight than to be conscious of right within us. If one strives to treat others as he would be treated by them, he shall not fail to come near the perfect life.
The disease of men is that they neglect their own fields and go to weed the fields of others.
Getting something done is like digging a well. You can dig a well seventy feet deep, but if you don't hit water it's just an abandoned well.
A great man is one who has not lost the child's heart.
There is a power in everything; it is the job of the artist to determine it and express it.
Sincerity is the way to Heaven.