Chapter 0 : 1. Mencius went to see king Hi of Liang. 2. The king said, 'Venerable sir, since you have not counted it far to come here, a distance of a thousand l, may I presume that you are provided with counsels to profit my kingdom?' 3. Mencius replied, 'Why must your Majesty use that word "profit?" What I...
Chapter 27 : 1. Mencius said, 'For the mouth to desire sweet tastes, the eye to desire beautiful colours, the ear to desire pleasant sounds, the nose to desire fragrant odours, and the four limbs to desire ease and rest;-- these things are natural. But there is the appointment of Heaven in connexion with them...
Chapter 9 : 1. There came from Ch' to T'ang one Hs Hsing, who gave out that he acted according to the words of Shan-nang. Coming right to his gate, he addressed the duke Wan, saying, 'A man of a distant region, I have heard that you, Prince, are practising a benevolent government, and I wish to receive a site...
Chapter 4 : 1. Kung-sun Ch'u asked Mencius, saying, 'Master, if you were to obtain the ordering of the government in Ch', could you promise yourself to accomplish anew such results as those realized by Kwan Chung and Yen?' 2. Mencius said, 'You are indeed a true man of Ch'. You know about Kwan Chung and Yen...
Chapter 5 : 1. Mencius said, 'He who, using force, makes a pretence to benevolence is the leader of the princes. A leader of the princes requires a large kingdom. He who, using virtue, practises benevolence is the sovereign of the kingdom. To become the sovereign of the kingdom, a prince need not wait...
Chapter 23 : 1. Mencius said, 'The five chiefs of the princes were sinners against the three kings. The princes of the present day are sinners against the five chiefs. The Great officers of the present day are sinners against the princes. 2. 'The sovereign visited the princes, which was called "A tour...
Chapter 22 : 1. A man of Zan asked the disciple W-l, saying, 'Is an observance of the rules of propriety in regard to eating, or eating merely, the more important?' The answer was, 'The observance of the rules of propriety is the more important.' 2. 'Is the gratifying the appetite of sex, or the doing so only...
Chapter 1 : 1. Mencius went to see the king Hsiang of Liang. 2. On coming out from the interview, he said to some persons, 'When I looked at him from a distance, he did not appear like a sovereign; when I drew near to him, I saw nothing venerable about him. Abruptly he asked me, "How can the kingdom be...
Chapter 26 : 1. Mencius said, 'The opposite indeed of benevolent was the king Hi of Liang! The benevolent, beginning with what they care for, proceed to what they do not care for. Those who are the opposite of benevolent, beginning with what they do not care for, proceed to what they care for.' 2. 'Kung-sun...
Chapter 20 : 1. The philosopher Ko said, 'Man's nature is like the ch'-willow , and righteousness is like a cup or a bowl. The fashioning benevolence and righteousness out of man's nature is like the making cups and bowls from the ch'-willow.' 2. Mencius replied, 'Can you, leaving untouched the nature...
Chapter 7 : 1. Mencius went from Ch' to L to bury his mother. On his return to Ch', he stopped at Ying, where Ch'ung Y begged to put a question to him, and said, 'Formerly, in ignorance of my incompetency, you employed me to superintend the making of the coffin. As you were then pressed by the urgency...
Chapter 24 : 1. Mencius said, 'He who has exhausted all his mental constitution knows his nature. Knowing his nature, he knows Heaven. 2. 'To preserve one's mental constitution, and nourish one's nature, is the way to serve Heaven. 3. 'When neither a premature death nor long life causes a man any...
Chapter 3 : 1. Mencius, having an interview with the king Hsan of Ch', said to him, 'When men speak of "an ancient kingdom," it is not meant thereby that it has lofty trees in it, but that it has ministers sprung from families which have been noted in it for generations. Your Majesty has no intimate ministers...
Chapter 12 : 1. Mencius said, 'The power of vision of L Lu, and skill of hand of Kung-sh, without the compass and square, could not form squares and circles. The acute ear of the music-master K'wang, without the pitch-tubes, could not determine correctly the five notes. The principles of Yo and Shun, without...
Chapter 16 : 1. Wan Chang asked Mencius, saying, 'When Shun went into the fields, he cried out and wept towards the pitying heavens. Why did he cry out and weep?' Mencius replied, 'He was dissatisfied, and full of earnest desire.' 2. Wan Chang said, 'When his parents love him, a son rejoices and forgets them...
Chapter 10 : 1. Ch'an Ti said to Mencius, 'In not going to wait upon any of the princes, you seem to me to be standing on a small point. If now you were once to wait upon them, the result might be so great that you would make one of them sovereign, or, if smaller, that you would make one of them chief of all...
Chapter 14 : 1. Mencius said, 'Shun was born in Ch-fang, removed to F-hsi, and died in Ming-t'io;-- a man near the wild tribes on the east. 2. 'King Wan was born in Chu by mount Ch', and died in P-ying;-- a man near the wild tribes on the west. 3. 'Those regions were distant from one another more th...
Chapter 18 : 1. Mencius said, 'Po- would not allow his eyes to look on a bad sight, nor his ears to listen to a bad sound. He would not serve a prince whom he did not approve, nor command a people whom he did not esteem. In a time of good government he took office, and on the occurrence of confusion he retired...
Chapter 15 : Mencius said, 'When it appears proper to take a thing, and afterwards not proper, to take it is contrary to moderation. When it appears proper to give a thing and afterwards not proper, to give it is contrary to kindness. When it appears proper to sacrifice one's life, and afterwards not proper...
Chapter 11 : 1. Mencius said to Ti P-shang, 'I see that you are desiring your king to be virtuous, and will plainly tell you how he may be made so. Suppose that there is a great officer of Ch' here, who wishes his son to learn the speech of Ch'. Will he in that case employ a man of Ch' as his tutor, or a m...
Chapter 19 : 1. Mencius said, 'Office is not sought on account of poverty, yet there are times when one seeks office on that account. Marriage is not entered into for the sake of being attended to by the wife, yet there are times when one marries on that account. 2. 'He who takes office on account of his...
Chapter 17 : 1. Wan Chang said, 'Was it the case that Yo gave the throne to Shun?' Mencius said, 'No. The sovereign cannot give the throne to another.' 2. 'Yes;-- but Shun had the throne. Who gave it to him? Heaven gave it to him,' was the answer. 3. '" Heaven gave it to him:"-- did Heaven confer its...
Chapter 13 : Mencius said, 'The path of duty lies in what is near, and men seek for it in what is remote. The work of duty lies in what is easy, and men seek for it in what is difficult. If each man would love his parents and show the due respect to his elders, the whole land would enjoy tranquillity.' 1...
Chapter 25 : 1. Mencius said, 'Confucius ascended the eastern hill, and L appeared to him small. He ascended the T'i mountain, and all beneath the heavens appeared to him small. So he who has contemplated the sea, finds it difficult to think anything of other waters, and he who has wandered in the gate...
Chapter 2 : 1. Chwang P'o, seeing Mencius, said to him, 'I had an interview with the king. His Majesty told me that he loved music, and I was not prepared with anything to reply to him. What do you pronounce about that love of music?' Mencius replied, 'If the king's love of music were very great, the kingdom...
Chapter 21 : 1. Mencius said, 'It is not to be wondered at that the king is not wise! 2. 'Suppose the case of the most easily growing thing in the world;-- if you let it have one day's genial heat, and then expose it for ten days to cold, it will not be able to grow. It is but seldom that I have an audience...
Chapter 6 : 1. Mencius said, 'Opportunities of time vouchsafed by Heaven are not equal to advantages of situation afforded by the Earth, and advantages of situation afforded by the Earth are not equal to the union arising from the accord of Men. 2. 'There is a city, with an inner wall of three l...
Chapter 8 : 1. When the prince, afterwards duke Wan of T'ang, had to go to Ch', he went by way of Sung, and visited Mencius. 2. Mencius discoursed to him how the nature of man is good, and when speaking, always made laudatory reference to Yo and Shun. 3. When the prince was returning from Ch', he ag...