The six quotations of Confucius can be summarized as follows:

The first one: Do not violate benevolence because of wealth or poverty.

The second sentence: "Everyone who walks among three people must have a teacher."\The last two sentences in the quotation: "Choose the good ones and follow them, and change the bad ones." They are talking about "teacher" The two aspects are: one is to follow the good ones, and the other is to get rid of the evil ones. This spirit has been included in the sentence "Three people must have a teacher", because it is affirmed that "everyone can learn from it", and everyone can learn from it. There are both good and bad aspects, so we must both follow the good and get rid of the bad. Both "following the good" and "getting rid of the bad" are "teachers", so "everyone can learn from it".

The third article: The dead are like this, and they don’t give up day and night. This is a metaphor of the continuous flow of river water to illustrate the universal laws of nature, society, and life. No matter where it is applied, it has positive understanding and motivational significance. .

Principles and cypresses should be understood from the perspective of "real gold is not afraid of fire".

As the saying goes: " The power of role models is endless. ”

The sixth one: sacrifice one’s life to achieve benevolence. Of course, we must pay attention to the actual connotation of “benevolence” here.

Mencius’s six quotations can be summarized as follows:

No. One: Being an official must be a parent for the people. Today, it should be understood from the perspective of "public servants".

The second: From "benevolence" to "benevolent government". >

The third principle: share the joys and sorrows of the people. Later it developed into "worry about the world's worries first, and rejoice after the world's happiness"

The fourth principle: many people will help you if you are wrong. The logic of Mencius’ argument is that among the three factors of success or failure, harmony is the key; and the key to “harmony” lies in “getting the Tao”. It is "benevolent government" and "people-oriented".

Principle 5: Born in sorrow and died in peace and happiness. "Steel is tempered a hundred times" and "failure is the mother of success", which is consistent with epistemology. and dialectic maxims.

Principle 6: The people are more important than the king.

[Content Comment]

These twelve quotations by Confucius and Mencius cover a wide range of topics and have rich connotations, but there is one core idea that runs through them, and that is "benevolence". In Confucius, "benevolence" is mainly the standard of life.

It is not difficult to see that whether Confucius talks about being a human being or Mencius talks about politics, they all take "benevolence" as the starting point. From being a human being to governing a country, the heart of benevolence is in the same line. This is the benevolence theory of Confucius and Mencius. core. The focus of this benevolence theory is people, their character and morality, so Confucius and Mencius attach great importance to personality cultivation from beginning to end. Confucius advocated "love to learn" and Mencius advocated "nourishing Qi", which are both manifestations of attaching importance to personality cultivation. In these twelve quotations, they not only talk about benevolence, teaching justice, talking about benevolent government, and talking about loving the people, which is also about personality cultivation. There are also several other quotations from Confucius, such as "among three people, there must be my teacher", "the pines and the cypresses wither", "the body is upright and the order is followed" " Mencius's words about extending kindness to others and "being born in sorrow and dying in happiness" are also talking about personality cultivation. It can be said that more of the essence of Confucius and Mencius' thoughts is concentrated in the aspect of paying attention to and stressing personality cultivation.

Of course, any idea is limited by time and space, and is a structural whole linked to a certain political, economic, and cultural environment. Therefore, even the essence cannot and should not be copied in its entirety. Come today; we can only critically inherit B. But we must not ignore the castration of Confucius and Mencius' thoughts by Han Confucianism and Song Dynasty, nor can we throw away the children when pouring out the dirty water. Instead, we should critically inherit Hegel's ideas like Marx. Like philosophy, we break down the rational core of Confucius and Mencius' thoughts, and transform and utilize them according to current conditions according to today's actual situation. In fact, the "people-oriented" thinking, the spirit of "love to learn", the awareness of "doing good", the concept of "getting the way", and the integrity of "benevolence" mentioned here can only be understood by "people", "learning", "goodness" and "benevolence". A correct interpretation of "Tao" and "Benevolence" may be very valuable spiritual wealth; as for "the dead are like this", "the pines and cypresses wither", "the Tao will help", "the body is upright and the order is followed", "born from sorrow" The philosophical connotations of nature, society, and life embedded in it will probably never be broken.

[Artistic Features]

"The Analects" is a quotation style. "Mencius" is a very argumentative treatise, but once it is excerpted, it also becomes a quotation. These quotations reflect some basic characteristics of quotations, the most prominent of which are the following two points:

1. Profound philosophy

The basic characteristic of quotations is that they are short. To be short yet meaningful, it must be short but insightful, small yet interesting, and contain philosophical connotations that make people think deeply and even wake them up.

The few quotations of Confucius and Mencius selected here have long-lasting vitality because of their profound insights and rich philosophy. o "The dead are like this, not to give up day and night", seeing the big from the small, embodying the nature and society , the universal law of life is "the right person will get many help, the unjust person will get few help", which reveals the fundamental principle of political success and failure; as long as it is for the truth. Isn't it the highest state of personality cultivation to be rich or poor, to sacrifice one's life for charity? As long as it is sincere, Why can't "be a parent to the people" and "be honest and upright" be used as the criteria for being an official? "The pines and cypresses will wither" and "hard work" are probably the only way to hone and cultivate talents who can truly take on "big responsibilities"; Whether one can be kind to others, whether one can be happy and happy, is probably an indispensable scale for measuring people's hearts. It is no accident that such philosophical sayings will remain famous throughout the ages.

2. The concise beauty of language

The ancients said: “The passage must be simple. "This "simple" means concise. The profound philosophical connotation must be condensed through concise language before it can become a superior quotation. There are many ways to refine it. As for these twelve quotations, there are at least the following three points. It is worth noting: First, the profound and indescribable meaning is dissolved into vivid metaphors, such as: "The dead are like this", "The pines and cypresses will wither", etc. The outstanding feature of this kind of quotation is that the boundary of meaning is boundless. The tension is great, and it has a thought-provoking and infinite meaning. The second is to condense the positive and negative aspects into a concise couplet, such as "If his body is upright, he will do it if he is not told; if his body is not right, he will not do it even if he is told." "From", "If you gain the right way, you will get many help, but if you lose the right way, you will get few help", "Born in sorrow, die in happiness", etc. The characteristics of this kind of quotation are that it is positive and negative, with clear meaning, two-way and decisive, and the reason is inevitable, thus strengthening the Third, no matter what techniques and sentence patterns are used, the words should be condensed as much as possible to make them as concise and clear as aphorisms and warnings. Many assertions in these twelve quotations. , the reason why it can become a widely circulated idiom, motto and even couplet· is probably an important reason for the concise beauty of language

[Translation]

Confucius said: "Fa Da." Wealth and being a high official are what everyone hopes for, but if you don't get it in the right way, you shouldn't accept it. Poverty and lowliness are something that everyone hates, but they should not be avoided unless they are thrown away in the right way. A gentleman abandons benevolence, how can he achieve his reputation? Jun: A gentleman cannot leave benevolence in an instant. He must do this when he is in a hurry, and he must do this when he is wandering around. "

Confucius said: "When three people walk together, there must be something I can learn from: I can choose good things and learn from them, and when I see bad things, I can improve myself by comparing them. "

Confucius stood on the bank of the Yellow River and said: "What has gone and never returned is like this flowing water, which does not stop day and night!"

Confucius said: "It is cold at the end of the year. , and then you will know that the pines and cypresses are the last to wither. ”

Confucius said: “If his own behavior is correct, things will work without forcing him to order things; if his own behavior is not correct, the people will not listen even if he gives repeated orders.” ”

Confucius said: “People with lofty ideals and benevolence and righteousness do not compromise benevolence and righteousness in order to survive, but only use self-sacrifice to fulfill benevolence and righteousness.” ”

There is fat meat in the kitchen and fat horses in the stable, but the people are hungry, and there are corpses of starvation in the fields. This is leading the wild beasts to eat people. The wild beasts interact with each other. People are very disgusted with eating people, but as the parents of the people, officials carry out political management, but they inevitably lead wild beasts to eat people. So where does he reflect as the parents of the people!

Respect yourself Old people, and by extension to respect other people's elders; care for your own children, and by extension, care for other people's children: the world can run in the palm of your hand.

King Xuan of Qi summoned him in the Snow Palace. Mencius. King Xuan of Qi asked: "Do virtuous people also have such joy?" Mencius replied: "Yes. When people don't get such joy, they blame themselves. It is wrong to be a king; but it is also wrong to be a king of the people and not rejoice with the people. The people who take the joy of the people as joy will also take his joy as joy; the people who take the worries of the people as worries are also wrong. , the common people will also regard his worries as worries, regard the happiness of the world as happiness, and regard the worries of the world as worries. There is no one who cannot unite the world. "

The opportunities given by God are not as favorable as the terrain. , the terrain is not as favorable as what people want. The inner city wall was three miles long, and the outer city wall was seven miles long. We surrounded it from all sides but could not win. Moreover, if you are surrounded from all sides, you will definitely get a God-given opportunity, but you cannot win. This shows that the God-given opportunity is not as favorable as the terrain. The city wall is not too high, the city is not too deep, the weapons and armor are not weak and sharp, and the food is not insufficient. However, they have to abandon the city and flee, which shows that the terrain is not as favorable as the people want. Therefore, it is said: To prevent the loss of people, we cannot rely on the boundaries of fiefdoms; to consolidate national defense, we cannot rely on the dangers of mountains and rivers; to conquer the world, we cannot rely on the strength of military revolution. Those who win the hearts of the people will help more; those who lose the hearts of the people will help less, and those who help will be less. If he goes to the extreme, even his relatives will betray him; if he has many helpers, the whole world will obey him. Let the people who are obeyed by the whole world attack those who even betray their relatives. Therefore, a gentleman often does not need to fight. If he wants to fight, he will definitely win.

Shun was found among the farmers; Fu Yue was found among the wall-builders; Jiao Ge was found among the salt people; Guan Yiwu was found among the retainers; Sun Shuao was found among them. To the boat people; to the merchants. Therefore, if God is going to give this person a big task, he must first temper his mind, strain his muscles and bones, starve his skin and flesh, deplete his body, and deliberately violate and disturb his actions to start it. It strengthens his mind, tempers his temperament, and increases his practical abilities. People often make mistakes and then learn from them. I feel embarrassed in my heart and make repeated weighings in my mind before I can make a difference. It is represented by color and excited by sound, and then it can be expressed clearly. If there are no law-enforcement ministers and wise men at home, and there are no hostile countries and external worries abroad, such a country will surely decline. In this way, we can know: vitality comes from sorrow, and death comes from happiness.

The people are the most important, the country is second, and the king is the least important. Therefore, if you are supported by the common people, you can be the emperor; if you are loved by the emperor, you can be a prince; if you are loved by the princes, you can be a great official. When princes harm the country, they should abolish the old and establish the new.

(Tao Xing Biography)