Mencius’ famous aphorisms about respect

(1) Without rules, there will be no circle.

(2) Right, then know the severity; measure, then 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. If you think, you can get it. 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 ministers and 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) A king who is benevolent 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 respect 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 a king is righteous, he will never be unjust; if he is upright, he will never be unrighteous.

(16) If you enjoy the people's happiness, the people will also enjoy their happiness; if you care about the people's worries, the people will also worry about their worries.

(17) Benevolence brings honor, and unkindness brings 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 anything to ward off evil spirits.

(19) To fight for land and kill people to fill the fields; to 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 and soul; if his ministers regard 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 also 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.