There are famous sayings or phrases that embody Confucius' wisdom and ideas, as well as Mencius'.
Mencius was strong-willed by nature, and his principle of life was "being poor means being immune to the world, while being able to help the world" (Mencius with all his heart). Mencius was never as submissive as Confucius in his attitude towards the monarch. He thought: "A monarch treats his ministers as brothers, then his ministers treat him as a heart;" If you treat me like a dog or a horse, then I treat you like a Chinese; If you treat me like dirt, then I treat you like enmity. " (Mencius Li Lou) shows his upright and upright character. He advocated that a gentleman should be "rich and dirty, poor and humble, and mighty and unyielding" (Mencius Teng Wengong II). Moreover, his mind and ambition are also great, and he has the confidence of "who is left behind in today's world" ("Mencius Gongsun Ugly"). The core of Mencius' political proposition is "benevolent politics", which is in the same strain as Confucius' theory of "benevolence" and "moral politics" The main content of Mencius' thought of benevolent governance and kingliness is "people-oriented theory", that is, "people value the monarch". He asked the rulers to be people-oriented, observe the people's feelings, cherish the people's resources, develop production, and neglect taxes; At the same time, vigorously promote school education, conduct ritual and music education. Mencius' idea of benevolent governance has two theoretical bases, namely, political theory-people-oriented theory and philosophical theory-good nature theory. Starting from the people-oriented theory, if the rulers want to unify the world and maintain long-term stability, they must implement benevolent policies; Starting from the theory of good nature, the people need a wise and loving monarch, which provides the possibility for the rulers to carry out benevolent policies. In a word, the people-oriented theory is based on the necessity and possibility of benevolent government. Second, the embodiment of Mencius' thought of benevolence and people-oriented in his prose Mencius has long recognized the importance of the people. In Mencius, he said: "The people are the most valuable, the country is the second, and the monarch is the light. Therefore, Qiu Min is the son of heaven, the son of heaven is the vassal, and the vassal is the doctor. " It can be seen that the monarch must first take care of the interests of the people, otherwise it will be difficult for the country to maintain long-term stability. Of course, Mencius' people-oriented thought still emphasizes people-oriented from the standpoint of how to consolidate feudal rule, so it still has certain class limitations. But he can realize that "those who win the hearts of the people win the world", which fully embodies the strategic vision of progressive thinkers in feudal times. Therefore, we say that Mencius developed the ancient people-oriented thought to its peak. Source: Education, Early Years