Mencius’s name was Ke and his courtesy name was Ziyu. A native of Lu during the Warring States Period. A famous thinker and educator in ancient China, and a representative figure of Confucianism during the Warring States Period. Author of "Mencius". Mencius inherited and carried forward Confucius' thoughts and became a generation of Confucian masters second only to Confucius. He was known as the "Senior Sage" and was collectively called "Confucius and Mencius" with Confucius.
(1) If you don’t follow the rules, you won’t be able to form a circle.
(2) Right, then you know the severity; degree, then you know the length.
(3) People do not do anything, and then they can do something.
(4) Although there are things that are easy to grow in the world, if they are violent in one day and cold in ten days, nothing can survive.
(5) Those who advance sharply will retreat quickly.
(6) The organ of the heart is thinking, and if you think, you can get it, and if you don’t think, you can’t get it.
(7) Born in sorrow and died in happiness.
(8) Only benevolent people should be in high positions. Being unkind and holding a high position is spreading evil to others.
(9) If the emperor is unkind, he will not protect the world; if the princes are unkind, he will not protect the country; if the officials are unkind, they will not protect the ancestral temple; if the scholars and common people are unkind, they will not protect the four bodies.
(10) If the king is benevolent, he will be invincible in the world.
(11) Save penalties, reduce taxes, and make farming easier.
(12) The benevolent are invincible.
(13) For a five-acre house with mulberry trees, a person in his fifties can wear silk clothes. Chickens, dolphins, dogs, and pigs are all animals that have not lost their season. Those who are seventy years old can eat meat. If you do not take away a hundred acres of land, then a family of eight will not be hungry. I sincerely follow the teachings of Xiangxu, apply the meaning of filial piety and brotherhood, and award the white ones to live up to the road.
(14) By changing the fields and reducing taxes, the people can become rich.
(15) If a king is benevolent, he will never be unkind; if he is righteous, he will never be unjust; if he is upright, he will never be unjust.
(16) Those who enjoy the people's happiness will also enjoy their happiness; those who worry about the people's worries will also worry about their worries.
(17) Being benevolent is an honor, being unkind is a disgrace.
(18) Those who have permanent property have perseverance, and those who do not have perseverance have no perseverance. If you don't have perseverance, you will do everything you can to ward off evil spirits.
(19) Fight for land and kill people to fill the fields; fight for cities and kill people to fill the city. This so-called taking advantage of the land and cannibalizing human flesh is a crime not punishable by death.
(20) If the king regards his ministers as his hands and feet, then his ministers will regard him as his heart; if the king regards his ministers as dogs and horses, then his ministers will regard him as a countryman; if his ministers regard his ministers as earth and mustard, then his ministers will regard him as their own. Like a bandit.
(21) Fish is what I want, and bear’s paws are also what I want; you cannot have both, and you would give up fish and take bear’s paws. Life is what I want, and righteousness is what I want. You cannot have both, and you have to sacrifice life for righteousness.
(22) Old people, I am old, and people are old; young people, I am young, and people are young.
(23) Those who have gained the right will get many help, while those who have lost the right will have little help. When there is little help, relatives will be there; when there is much help, the world will follow.
(24) The weather is not as good as the right place, and the right place is not as good as the people.
(25) It is not benevolent to kill someone without sin, and it is not righteous to take something that does not exist.
(26) Those who rebel against benevolence are called "thieves", and those who rebel against righteousness are called "crippling". Those who are crippled thieves are called "one husband". I have heard of the execution of one husband, Zhou, but I have not heard of regicide.
(27) The wise are in office and the capable are in office.
(28) Respect the virtuous and enable the capable, and the heroes will reign.
(29) The people are the most important, the country is the second most important, and the king is the least important.
(30) Civil matters cannot be postponed.
(31) If it is not contrary to the farming season, the grain will not be enough to eat; if a few grains of grain are not put into the pond, the fish and turtles will not be enough to eat; if the ax and catty are brought into the forest at the right time, the wood will not be enough to use. The grain, fish and turtles cannot be eaten, and the wood cannot be used, so that the people can live and die without regret.
(32) There is fat meat in the kitchen, fat horses in the stables, the people are hungry, and there are hungry people in the wild. This is how the beasts eat people.
(33) When Jie and Zhou lost the world, they also lost their people; those who lost their people also lost their hearts. There is a way to win the world: if you win its people, you will win the world; if you win its people, you will win the world; if you win their hearts, you will win the people; if you win their hearts, you will have a way: gather with them what you want, and do not do to them what you want.
(34) A wise king controls the people's property so that they can serve their parents and their wives, and they will be full in happy years and avoid death in bad years.
(35) To protect the people and become king, no one can control it.
(36) The three treasures of princes: land, people, and political affairs. Those who have precious stones and jade will surely suffer disaster.
(37) Heaven sends down the people to be kings and teachers, only to say that they are helped by God and favored by them.
(38) Everyone can be Yao and Shun.
(39) The wife must insult herself, and then others will insult her; the family must destroy herself, and then others will destroy it; the country must destroy itself, and then others will destroy it.
(40) He who seeks all misfortunes and blessings by himself.
(41) A gentleman does not complain about heaven or others.
(42) Wealth and honor cannot lead to sexual immorality, poverty and lowliness cannot change, and power cannot yield. This is called a true man.
(43) Those who abuse themselves cannot be talked to; those who give up on themselves cannot be talked to.
(44) To nourish the heart, don’t be good at having few desires.
(45) If you say that you are a great person, you will despise it, but do not regard it as majestic.
(46) Therefore, when Heaven is about to entrust a person with a great responsibility, he must first strain his mind, strain his muscles and bones, starve his body and skin, and deplete his heart. It has been beneficial to what it cannot do.
(47) A respectful person will not insult others, and a thrifty person will not take away from others.
(48) Those who love others will always be loved by others; those who respect others will always be respected by others.
(49) Do not rely on elders, do not rely on nobles, do not rely on brothers but be friends.
(50) In a prosperous year, the children will be many and unlucky; in a bad year, the children will be many and violent. This is not a matter of talent coming from heaven, but it is the reason why one is addicted to his heart.
(51) A promising person is like digging a well. If the well is dug nine times and fails to reach the spring, it is like abandoning the well.
(52) A gentleman has three kinds of happiness, but the king of the world does not enjoy them. Having both parents and brothers without any reason is one kind of happiness; looking up to heaven and not being ashamed of others is the second kind of happiness; being able to educate the talented people from all over the world is the third kind of happiness.
(53) If you are not ashamed, why should you be like a human being?
(54) If you are poor, you will be good for yourself; if you are rich, you will be good for the world.
(55) Those who speak poetry should not harm their words with words, nor harm their aspirations with words. To use one's will against one's will is to gain it.
(56) It is better to have no books than to believe in all the books.