Mencius Quotes

#1. The Chinese philosopher Mencius believed that man is innately good. He argued that anyone who saw a child falling into a well would immediately feel shock and alarm, and that this impulse, this universal capacity for commiseration, was proof positive that man is inherently good.

T. Greenwood

#2. I can imagine the writers of China, England and France, crippled and unsure of themselves when they feel that the ghosts of Confucius, Mencius, Chaucer and Shakespeare and Victor Hugo are looking over their shoulders.

F. Sionil Jose

#3. Mencius said that human nature is good. I disagree with that.

Xun Zi

#4. dishonor is like a scar on a tree, which time, instead of effacing, only helps to enlarge." Mencius

Inazo Nitobe

#5. The ways are two: love and want of love. That is all.

Mencius

#6. Without effective protection of the citizens' right to property, it will be difficult to attract and accumulate valuable capital.

Mencius

#7. Never has a man who has bent himself been able to make others straight.

Mencius

#8. A great man is one who has not lost the child's heart.

Mencius

#9. 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.

Mencius

#10. Only when there are things a man will not do is he capable of doing great things.

Mencius

#11. He who wishes to be benevolent will not be rich.

Mencius

#12. Virtue alone is not sufficient for the exercise of government; laws alone cannot carry themselves into practice.

Mencius

#13. The way is One and only One. The way is close at hand, but men seek it afar.

Mencius

#14. Words that defy reality are ominous. And it's ominous reality that confronts those who would obscure the wise and worthy.

Mencius

#15. 221. "Great is the man who has not lost his childlike heart."~

Mencius

#16. Treat others as you would be treated. Devote yourself to that, for there's no more direct approach to Humanity.

Mencius

#17. Truth uttered before its time is dangerous.

Mencius

#18. Heaven sees as the people see. Heaven hears as the people hear.

Mencius

#19. 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.

Mencius

#20. It is not difficult to govern. All one has to do is not to offend the noble families.

Mencius

#21. It's simple: To say anything about the nature of things, you must attend to the facts, facts in their original form. The trouble with knowledge is that it keeps chiseling things away.

Mencius

#22. The feeling of compassion is the beginning of humanity.

Mencius

#23. I am not fond of disputation; I have no alternative.

Mencius

#24. [I]n many ways nonsense is a more effective organizing tool than the truth. Anyone can believe in the truth. To believe in nonsense is an unforgeable demonstration of loyalty. It serves as a political uniform. And if you have a uniform, you have an army.

Mencius Moldbug

#25. He who loves others is constantly loved by them. He who respects others is constantly respected by them.

Mencius

#26. Human nature is disposed to do good.

Mencius

#27. The way is near, but men seek it afar. It is in easy things, but men seek for it in difficult things.

Mencius

#28. All beneath Heaven is rooted in nation. Nation is rooted in family. And family is rooted in self.

Mencius

#29. Every duty is a charge, but the charge of oneself is the root of all others.

Mencius

#30. He who exerts his mind to the utmost knows his nature

Mencius

#31. People can have a long-term life plan only if they know their private property is secure.

Mencius

#32. 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.

Mencius

#33. If the prince of a State love benevolence, he will have no opponent in all the empire.

Mencius

#34. He who attends to his greater self becomes a great man, and he who attends to his smaller self becomes a small man.

Mencius

#35. 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?

Mencius

#36. By exhaustively examining one's own mind,one may understand his nature.One who understands his own nature understands Heaven.

Mencius

#37. The Tao is near and people seek it far away.

Mencius

#38. That's like climbing a tree to find a fish.

Mencius

#39. Mankind fears an evil man but heaven does not.

Mencius

#40. 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

Mencius

#41. Where it is permissible both to die and not to die, it is an abuse of valour to die.

Mencius

#42. Only those who develop their minds and spirits to the utmost can serve Heaven and fulfill their own destinies.

Mencius

#43. When one by force subdues men, they do not submit to him in heart. They submit because their strength is not adequate to resist.

Mencius

#44. A man must not be without shame, for the shame of being without shame is shamelessness indeed.

Mencius

#45. The way of learning is none other than finding the lost mind.

Mencius

#46. The best things in life come in threes, like friends, dreams, and memories.

Mencius

#47. 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.

Mencius

#48. 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.

Mencius

#49. A man must first despise himself, and then others will despise him.

Mencius

#50. 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.

Mencius

#51. If the king loves music, there is little wrong in the land.

Mencius

#52. 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.

Mencius

#53. Only when someone refuses to do certain things will he be capable of doing great things.

Mencius

#54. Make your learning abundant and speak of it with precision, then you will speak of essentials.

Mencius

#55. 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.

Mencius

#56. Those who follow the part of themselves which is great are great men; those who follow the part which is little are little men.

Mencius

#57. The feeling of right or wrong is the beginning of wisdom

Mencius

#58. People are eager to comment on something when they themselves are not in the situation of doing it.

Mencius

#59. 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.

Mencius

#60. The man of true greatness never loses his child's heart.

Mencius

#61. I dislike death, however, there are some things I dislike more than death. Therefore, there are times when I will not avoid danger.

Mencius

#62. I understand what lies hidden beneath beguiling words. I understand the trap beneath extravagant words. I understand the deceit beneath depraved words. And I understand the weariness beneath evasive words.

Mencius

#63. He who goes to the bottom of his own heart knows his own nature;
And knowing his own nature, he knows heaven.

Mencius

#64. The great person never loses a childlike spirit.

Mencius

#65. A great man is he who has not lost the heart of a child.

Mencius

#66. Secure property in hand leads to peace in mind.

Mencius

#67. The regular path of virtue is to be pursued without any bend, and from no view to emolument.

Mencius

#68. The sole concern of learning is to seek one's original heart.

Mencius

#69. Sincerity is the way to heaven; to think how to be sincere is the way of man.

Mencius

#70. All things are complete within ourselves.

Mencius

#71. The disease of men is that they neglect their own fields and go to weed the fields of others.

Mencius

#72. 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.

Mencius

#73. If you know that a thing is unrighteous, then use all dispatch in putting an end to it
why wait till next year?

Mencius

#74. Water indeed will flow indifferently to the east or west, but will it flow indifferently up or down? The tendency of our nature to good is like the tendency of water to flow downwards. There are none but have this tendency to good, just as all water flows downward.

Mencius

#75. He who respects others is respected by them.

Mencius

#76. The gap between enthusiasm and indifference is filled with failures. The great man is he that does not lose his child's heart.

Mencius

#77. The poor attend to their own virtue in solitude.

Mencius

#78. 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.

Mencius

#79. Human nature is good, just as water seeks low ground. There is no man who is not good, just as there is no water that does not flow downward.

Mencius

#80. Is it only the mouth and belly which are injured by hunger and thirst? Men's minds are also injured by them.

Mencius

#81. The Way lies at hand yet it is sought afar off; the thing lies in the easy yet it is sought in the difficult.

Mencius

#82. The way of truth is like a great highway. It is not hard to find.

Mencius

#83. Let men decide firmly what they will not do, and they will be free to do vigorously what they ought to do.

Mencius

#84. There is a power in everything; it is the job of the artist to determine it and express it.

Mencius

#85. The myriad things are complete in us. There is no greater joy than to reflect on ourselves and become sincere.

Mencius

#86. Only when a man will not do some things is he capable of doing great things.

Mencius

#87. 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

Mencius

#88. 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.

Mencius

#89. If Confucius wasn't born, the long night would have no bright lamp.

Mencius

#90. If you let people follow their feelings, they will be able to do good. This is what is meant by saying that human nature is good.

Mencius

#91. Filling with food,
Warming with clothes,
Living leisurely without learning,
It is little short of animals.

Mencius

#92. 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.

Mencius

#93. People are distressed by their inability to do it. The problem, however, is simply that they don't do it.

Mencius

#94. 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.

Mencius

#95. 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.

Mencius

#96. The great man is he who does not lose his child's heart

Mencius

#97. A real man is he whose goodness is a part of himself.

Mencius

#98. The great man does not think beforehand of his words that they may be sincere, nor of his actions that they may be resolute;
he simply speaks and does what is right.

Mencius

#99. All tongues savor the same flavors, all ears hear the same music, and all eyes see the same beauty.

Mencius

#100. 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.

Mencius