Mencius Quotes

84 quotes in 840 categories

• One who believes all of a book would be better off without books
• 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…
• 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…
• 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…
• The disease of men is that they neglect their own fields and go to weed the fields of others.
• Never has a man who has bent himself been able to make others straight.
• 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.
• 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…
• 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…
• By exhaustively examining one's own mind,one may understand his nature.One who understands his own nature understands Heaven.
• Benevolence is one of the distinguishing characters of man.
• 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…
• The great person never loses a childlike spirit.
• Where it is permissible both to die and not to die, it is an abuse of valour to die.
• He who exerts his mind to the utmost knows his nature
• The best things in life come in threes, like friends, dreams, and memories.
• Never lose your child's heart.
• 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…
• The ways are two: love and want of love. That is all.
• 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…

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