Mencius Quotes
-
Only when someone refuses to do certain things will he be capable of doing great things.
→ -
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.
→ -
Kindly words do not enter so deeply into men as a reputation for kindness.
→ -
The way is near, but men seek it afar. It is in easy things, but men seek for it in difficult things.
→ -
Friendship is one mind in two bodies.
→ -
He who attends to his greater self becomes a great man, and he who attends to his smaller self becomes a small man.
→ -
A small country cannot contend with a great; the few cannot contend with the many; the weak cannot contend with the strong
→ -
When the men of antiquity realized their wishes, benefits were conferred by them on the people. If they did not realize their wishes, they cultivated their personal character, and became illustrious in the world. If poor, they attended to their own virtue in solitude; if advanced to dignity, they made the whole empire virtuous as well.
→ -
Only those who develop their minds and spirits to the utmost can serve Heaven and fulfill their own destinies.
→ -
The way of learning is none other than finding the lost mind.
→ -
When Heaven is about to confer a great office upon you, it first exercises your mind with suffering and your sinews and bones with toil.
→ -
Incessant falls teach men to reform, and distress rouses their strength. Life springs from calamity, and death from ease.
→ -
The root of the kingdom is in the state. The root of the state is in the family. The root of the family is in the person of its head.
→ -
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.
→ -
The myriad things are complete in us. There is no greater joy than to reflect on ourselves and become sincere.
→ -
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.
→ -
He who goes to the bottom of his own heart knows his own nature; And knowing his own nature, he knows heaven.
→ -
Listen to a man's words and look at the pupil of his eye. How can a man conceal his character?
→ -
The people turn in allegiance to Humanity, as surely as water flows downward or as a wild animal takes cover in the wilderness.
→ -
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.
→ -
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.
→ -
A great man is one who has not lost the child's heart.
→ -
The disease of men is that they neglect their own fields and go to weed the fields of others.
→ -
The way of truth is like a great highway. It is not hard to find.
→ -
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.
→ -
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.
→ -
Friends are the siblings God never gave us.
→ -
One who believes all of a book would be better off without books
→ -
All people have the common desire to be elevated in honour, but all people have something still more elevated in themselves without knowing it.
→ -
There is the work of great men and there is the work of little men. Therefore it is said, 'Some labor with their minds and some labor with their strength. Those who labor with their minds govern others; those who labor with their strength are governed by others.'1 Those who are governed by others support them; those who govern them are supported by them. This is a universal principle.
→
Related Authors
-
Mahatma Gandhi Civil rights leader -
Alexander the Great Military Commander -
Laozi Philosopher -
Wang Yangming Philosopher -
Sun Tzu Strategist -
Liang Qichao Journalist -
Immanuel Kant Philosopher -
Shang Yang Statesman -
Lu Xun Novelist -
Han Fei Philosopher -
Sima Qian Historian -
Rene Descartes Philosopher -
Zhang Zai Philosopher -
Thomas Merton Writer -
Mao Zedong Former Chairman of the Communist Party of China -
Rajneesh Guru -
Zhuangzi Philosopher -
Confucius Philosopher -
Aristotle Philosopher -
Xunzi Philosopher