What a gentleman should do and what he should not do comes from the book "Mencius".

Extension:

Some things must be done, and some things must not be done. Do what you should do, and do what you should not do.

Source:

The earliest version comes from "The Analects of Confucius·Zilu": "If you don't follow the path, you will be crazy and stubborn. A crazy person will make progress, and a stubborn person will not do anything."

Annotation: Confucius said: "I can't find anyone who adheres to the golden mean to associate with him. I can only associate with mad people and rough people. Mad people dare to do things, and rough people have some ideas." Things are not done if you are not willing to do them." Madness is similar to the left; Haughty is similar to the right. The resemblance of madness is too much; the resemblance of shou is not enough.

Extended information

The book "Mencius" contains seven chapters. It is a collection of Mencius' remarks during the Warring States Period. It records Mencius' debates with other schools of thought and his words and deeds to his disciples. , lobbying the princes and other contents were jointly compiled by Mencius and his disciples (Wan Zhang, etc.).

"Mencius" records Mencius's thoughts on governing the country, political strategies (benevolent government, the distinction between kings and hegemons, people-centeredness, caring about the emperor's wrong intentions, the people are noble and the country is inferior to the king) and political actions. It was written around the middle of the Warring States Period and is a Confucian classic. The starting point of his theory is the theory of good nature and advocates the rule of virtue.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi combined "Mencius", "The Analects of Confucius", "Great Learning" and "The Doctrine of the Mean" together to call it the "Four Books". Since the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, it has been regarded as a book that has been passed down from family to family. Just like our textbooks.

"Mencius" is the largest and heaviest of the Four Books, with more than 35,000 words. From then until the end of the Qing Dynasty, the "Four Books" had been a required part of the imperial examination. The theory of the book "Mencius" is not only pure and profound, but the articles are also extremely powerful and beautiful.

"Mencius" is a work that records Meng Ke's words and deeds, and is also one of the important classics of Confucianism. The chapters include: (1) "King Hui of Liang" (Part 1 and Part 2), (2) "Gongsun Chou" (Part 1 and Part 2), (3) "Teng Wengong" (Part 1 and Part 2), (4) "Li Lou" (Part 1 and Part 2), (5) ) "Wan Zhang" (top and bottom), (6) "Gao Zi" (top and bottom), (7) "Jin Xin" (top and bottom).

Baidu Encyclopedia——Mencius