Mencius Quotes & Sayings

Let men decide firmly what they will not do, and they will be free to do vigorously what they ought to do. — Mencius

I dislike death, however, there are some things I dislike more than death. Therefore, there are times when I will not avoid danger. — Mencius

The myriad things are complete in us. There is no greater joy than to reflect on ourselves and become sincere. — Mencius

Truth uttered before its time is always dangerous. — Mencius

The foundation of the world lies in the nation. The foundation of the nation lies in the family. The foundation of the family lies in the individual. — Mencius

Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence — Mencius

People can have a long-term life plan only if they know their private property is secure. — Mencius

221. "Great is the man who has not lost his childlike heart."~ — Mencius

To feed men and not to love them is to treat them as if they were barnyard cattle. To love them and not respect them is to treat them as if they were household pets. — Mencius

Charity is in the heart of man, and righteousness in the path of men. Pity the man who has lost his path and does not follow it and who has lost his heart and does not know how to recover it. When people's dogs and chicks are lost they go out and look for them and yet the people who have lost their hearts do not go out and look for them. The principle of self-cultivation consists in nothing but trying to look for the lost heart. — Mencius

The man of true greatness never loses his child's heart. — Mencius

All things are already complete in us. There is no greater delight than to be conscious of right within us. If one strives to treat others as he would be treated by them, he shall not fail to come near the perfect life. — Mencius

The ways are two: love and want of love. That is all. — Mencius

Only when there are things a man will not do is he capable of doing great things. — Mencius

Human nature is good, just as water seeks low ground. There is no man who is not good, just as there is no water that does not flow downward. — Mencius

Those who follow the part of themselves which is great are great men; those who follow the part which is little are little men. — Mencius

Listen to a man's words and look at the pupil of his eye. How can a man conceal his character? — Mencius

The way of truth is like a great road. It is not difficult to know it. The evil is only that men will not seek it. — Mencius

Filling with food,
Warming with clothes,
Living leisurely without learning,
It is little short of animals. — Mencius

A small country cannot contend with a great; the few cannot contend with the many; the weak cannot contend with the strong — Mencius

When one by force subdues men, they do not submit to him in heart. They submit because their strength is not adequate to resist. — Mencius

The disease of men is that they neglect their own fields and go to weed the fields of others. — Mencius

The great person never loses a childlike spirit. — Mencius

The gap between enthusiasm and indifference is filled with failures. The great man is he that does not lose his child's heart. — Mencius

The great man does not think beforehand of his words that they may be sincere, nor of his actions that they may be resolute;
he simply speaks and does what is right. — Mencius

I like fish, and I also like bear's paws. If I cannot have the two together, I will let the fish go, and take the bear's paws. So, I like life, and I also like righteousness. If I cannot keep the two together, I will let life go, and choose righteousness. — Mencius

Incessant falls teach men to reform, and distress rouses their strength. Life springs from calamity, and death from ease. — Mencius

If Confucius wasn't born, the long night would have no bright lamp. — Mencius

Evil exists to glorify the good. Evil is negative good. It is a relative term. Evil can be transmuted into good. What is evil to one at one time, becomes good at another time to somebody else. — Mencius

Heaven sees as the people see. Heaven hears as the people hear. — Mencius

Water indeed will flow indifferently to the east or west, but will it flow indifferently up or down? The tendency of our nature to good is like the tendency of water to flow downwards. There are none but have this tendency to good, just as all water flows downward. — Mencius

The feeling of commiseration is the beginning of humanity; the feeling of shame and dislike is the beginning of righteousness; the feeling of deference and compliance is the beginning of propriety; and the feeling of right or wrong is the beginning of wisdom.Men have these Four Beginnings just as they have their four limbs. Having these Four Beginnings, but saying that they cannot develop them is to destroy themselves. — Mencius

Friendship with a man is friendship with his virtue. — Mencius

That's like climbing a tree to find a fish. — Mencius

The tendency of mans nature to good is like the tendency of water to flow downward. — Mencius

The poor attend to their own virtue in solitude. — Mencius

Treat your elders as elders, and extend it to the elders of others; treat your young ones as young ones, and extend it to the young ones of others; then you can turn the whole world in the palm of your hand — Mencius

The Tao is near and people seek it far away. — Mencius

If the king loves music, there is little wrong in the land. — Mencius

A real man is he whose goodness is a part of himself. — Mencius

All tongues savor the same flavors, all ears hear the same music, and all eyes see the same beauty. — Mencius

It is not difficult to govern. All one has to do is not to offend the noble families. — Mencius

If you love men and they are unfriendly, look into your love; if you rule men and they are unruly, look into your wisdom; if you are courteous to them and they do not respond, look into your courtesy. If what you do is vain, always seek within. — Mencius

Secure property in hand leads to peace in mind. — Mencius

A man must first despise himself, and then others will despise him. — Mencius

If the prince of a State love benevolence, he will have no opponent in all the empire. — Mencius

The way is near, but men seek it afar. It is in easy things, but men seek for it in difficult things. — Mencius

In abundance prepare for scarcity. — Mencius

People are distressed by their inability to do it. The problem, however, is simply that they don't do it. — Mencius

If someone stops where they should not, they'll stop anywhere. If someone slights a person they should treat generously, they'll slight anyone. And if someone races ahead, they retreat in a hurry. — Mencius

Let not a man do what his sense of right bids him not to do, nor desire what it forbids him to desire. This is sufficient. The skillful artist will not alter his measures for the sake of a stupid workman. — Mencius

The Way lies at hand yet it is sought afar off; the thing lies in the easy yet it is sought in the difficult. — Mencius

Only when someone refuses to do certain things will he be capable of doing great things. — Mencius

If you know the point of balance, You can settle the details. If you can settle the details, You can stop running around. Your mind will become calm. If your mind becomes calm, You can think in front of a tiger. If you can think in front of a tiger, You will surely succeed. — Mencius

Sincerity is the way to Heaven. — Mencius

He who outrages benevolence is called a ruffian: he who outrages righteousness is called a villain. I have heard of the cutting off of the villain Chow, but I have not heard of the putting of a ruler to death. — Mencius

So it is that whenever Heaven invests a person with great responsibilities, it first tries his resolve, exhausts his muscles and bones, starves his body, leaves him destitute, and confound his every endeavor. In this way his patience and endurance are developed, and his weaknesses are overcome. We change and grow only when we make mistakes. We realize what to do only when we work through worry and confusion. And we gain people's trust and understanding only when our inner thoughts are revealed clearly in our faces and words. — Mencius

A great man is he who has not lost the heart of a child. — Mencius

All things are complete within ourselves. — Mencius

All beneath Heaven is rooted in nation. Nation is rooted in family. And family is rooted in self. — Mencius

Truth uttered before its time is dangerous. — Mencius

I understand what lies hidden beneath beguiling words. I understand the trap beneath extravagant words. I understand the deceit beneath depraved words. And I understand the weariness beneath evasive words. — Mencius

The five kinds of grains are considered good plants, but if the grains are not ripe, they are worse than cockles. It is the same with regard to kindness, which must grow into maturity. — Mencius

He who wishes to be benevolent will not be rich. — Mencius

The way of learning is none other than finding the lost mind. — Mencius

Only when a man will not do some things is he capable of doing great things. — Mencius

I am not fond of disputation; I have no alternative. — Mencius

Men must be decided on what they will not do, and then they are able to act with vigor in what they ought to do. — Mencius

Virtue alone is not sufficient for the exercise of government; laws alone cannot carry themselves into practice. — Mencius

Human nature is disposed to do good. — Mencius

A great man is one who has not lost the child's heart. — Mencius

With melted snow I boil fragrant tea. — Mencius

Without effective protection of the citizens' right to property, it will be difficult to attract and accumulate valuable capital. — Mencius

The heart of compassion is the germ of benevolence; the heart of shame, of dutifulness; the heart of courtesy and modesty, of observance of the rites; the heart of right and wrong, of wisdom. Man has these four germs just as he has four limbs. For a man possessing these four germs to deny his own potentialities is for him to cripple himself. — Mencius

Make your learning abundant and speak of it with precision, then you will speak of essentials. — Mencius

The way is One and only One. The way is close at hand, but men seek it afar. — Mencius

All people have the common desire to be elevated in honour, but all people have something still more elevated in themselves without knowing it. — Mencius

The way of truth is like a great highway. It is not hard to find. — Mencius

It is true that water will flow indifferently to east and west, but will it flow equally well up and down? Human nature is disposed toward goodness, just as water tends to flow downwards. There is no water but flows downwards, and no man but shows his tendency to be good. Now, by striking water hard, you may splash it higher than your forehead, and by damming it, you may make it go uphill. But, is that the nature of water? It is external force that causes it to do so. Likewise, if a man is made to do what is not good, his nature is being similarly forced. — Mencius

To act without clear understanding, to form habits without investigation, to follow a path all one's life without knowing where it really leads; such is the behavior of the multitude. — Mencius

He who loves others is constantly loved by them. He who respects others is constantly respected by them. — Mencius

If you let people follow their feelings, they will be able to do good. This is what is meant by saying that human nature is good. — Mencius

He who attends to his greater self becomes a great man, and he who attends to his smaller self becomes a small man. — Mencius

There is a power in everything; it is the job of the artist to determine it and express it. — Mencius

A trail through the mountains, if used, becomes a path in a short time, but, if unused, becomes blocked by grass in an equally short time. — Mencius

There are people dying from famine on the roads, and you do not issue the stores of your granaries for them. When people die, you say, 'it is not owing to me, it is owing to the year.' In what does this differ from stabbing a man and killing him, and then saying, 'it was not I, it was the weapon? — Mencius

Never has there been one possessed of complete sincerity who did not move others. Never has there been one who had not sincerity who was able to move others. — Mencius

There's only one way to know if people are good or evil: look at the choices they make. We each contain precious and worthless, great and small. Never injure the great for the sake of the small, or the precious for the sake of the worthless. Small people nurture what is small in them; great people nurture what is great in them. — Mencius

To lay hold of the mean without taking into account the occasion is like grasping one thing only. — Mencius

The people turn in allegiance to Humanity, as surely as water flows downward or as a wild animal takes cover in the wilderness. — Mencius

When Heaven is about to confer a great office on a man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and his sinews and bones with toil ; it exposes his body to hunger, and subjects him to extreme poverty ; it confounds his undertakings. By all these methods it stimulates his mind, hardens his nature, and supplies his incompetencies. — Mencius

He who respects others is respected by them. — Mencius

Every duty is a charge, but the charge of oneself is the root of all others. — Mencius

Human-heartedness is man's mind. Righteousness is man's path. How sad that he abandons that path and does not rely on it; that he loses that mind and does not know to seek it. When a man has lost a cock or a dog, he knows to seek it, but having lost his (proper) mind, he does not know to seek it. The Way of Learning is nothing other than seeking the lost mind — Mencius

Words that defy reality are ominous. And it's ominous reality that confronts those who would obscure the wise and worthy. — Mencius

Never lose your child's heart. — Mencius

Is it only the mouth and belly which are injured by hunger and thirst? Men's minds are also injured by them. — Mencius

If the King loves music, it is well with the land. — Mencius

The regular path of virtue is to be pursued without any bend, and from no view to emolument. — Mencius

The fruit of humanity is devotion to one's parents. The fruit of righteousness is to respect one's elders. The fruit of wisdom is to understand these two and not to betray them. The fruit of propriety is to regulate and polish them. The fruit of music is the joy that comes from rejoicing in them. When one rejoices in them, they grow. When they grow, how can they be stopped? And when they cannot be stopped, unconsciously one's feet begin to dance and one's arms begin to wave. — Mencius