01UndatedWe can see that one is without the feeling of sympathy, one is not a human. The great man is he who still retains the innocent heart of a child. When his wishes were to be realized, he passes on virtue to people. When he is unable to realize his wishes, he stands to his principle alone. Riches and honor can’t make his heart sway. Poverty and destitution can’t modify his integrity. Force can’t subdue his will. Then he can be called a true man. To feed someone and not respect him is as raising pigs. To love someone and not respect him is as keeping pets. When those in inferior posts do not obtain the confidence of those in higher positions, they can’t succeed in government. What is the business of the unemployed scholar? It is to elevate his ideal. There has never been a benevolent person who neglected his parents or an upright person who slighted his lord. They constantly respect him who respects others.Mencius / quote ↗
02UndatedThis is but a madman. Since he conducts himself so, what is there to choose between him and a beast? Why should I criticize a beast? I desire life, and I also desire uprightness. If I can’t have both, I will give up life.Mencius / quote ↗
03UndatedA man must not be without shame, for the shame of being without shame is shamelessness indeed.Mencius / quote ↗
04UndatedThe 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.Mencius / quote ↗
05UndatedWords that speak of things close at hand and carry far-reaching implications – those are the good words.Mencius / quote ↗
06UndatedWords that defy reality are ominous. And it’s ominous reality that confronts those who would obscure the wise and worthy.Mencius / quote ↗
07UndatedOnly when there are things a man will not do is he capable of doing great things.Mencius / quote ↗
08UndatedThere’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.Mencius / quote ↗
09UndatedIntegrity, wisdom, skill, intelligence – such things are forged in adversity.Mencius / quote ↗
10UndatedThere 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?Mencius / quote ↗
11UndatedFor 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.Mencius / quote ↗
12UndatedIf 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.Mencius / quote ↗
16UndatedThe 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.Mencius / quote ↗
