Famous Mencius Quotes Explained
Mengzi, conventionally known in the West as Mencius, was a Chinese Confucian philosopher of the fourth century BC, traditionally regarded as the second sage of the Confucian tradition after Confucius himself. Mencius (Mengzi) developed Confucian ethics by arguing that human nature is innately good and that government must answer to popular welfare. Below are eight of the most-cited lines from the <em>Mencius</em>.
“The great man is he who does not lose his child's-heart.”
大人者，不失其赤子之心者也
What it means
From Mencius 4B.12. The "child's-heart" (chizi zhi xin) is Mencius's image for the innate moral dispositions — compassion, shame, deference, judgement — that he believes everyone is born with. Moral development is the cultivation of these original impulses, not the importation of values from outside.
Attributed to Mencius:
“Benevolence is man's heart, righteousness is man's path.”
What it means
From Mencius 6A.11. Benevolence (ren) is described as the heart's natural seat; righteousness (yi) is the path that follows from it. The image makes virtue a matter of returning to one's own nature rather than conforming to an external code.
Attributed to Mencius:
“Heaven sees with the eyes of its people; Heaven hears with the ears of its people.”
What it means
From Mencius 5A.5, in a discussion of legitimate succession. The line establishes one of the most influential formulations of the Mandate of Heaven: a ruler's legitimacy is read off the welfare and consent of the people, not off royal lineage or divine endorsement directly.
“The feeling of compassion is the beginning of benevolence; the feeling of shame is the beginning of righteousness; the feeling of deference is the beginning of propriety; the feeling of right and wrong is the beginning of wisdom.”
2A:6, as translated by Wing-tsit Chan in A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (1963), p. 65 | Variant translation: The sense of compassion is the beginning of benevolence; the sense of shame the beginning of righteousness; the sense of modesty the beginning of decorum; the sense of right and wrong the beginning of wisdom. Man possesses these four beginnings just as he possesses four limbs. Anyone p
What it means
From Mencius 2A.6. The famous "four sprouts" passage identifies four innate moral feelings — compassion, shame, deference, right-and-wrong — as the seeds of the cardinal virtues. The botanical metaphor is essential: the sprouts will not grow without cultivation, but the capacity is already there.
Attributed to Mencius:
“Try the difficult things while they are easy; do the great things while they are small.”
What it means
Attributed to Mencius and consistent with the gradualism of his account of moral cultivation. Great undertakings, in his view, are accomplished by attending to the small actions and dispositions that compose them, not by waiting for a single decisive moment.
“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 .”
1B:8, In relation to righteousness and the overthrow of the tyrannous King Zhou of Shang , as translated by Sir Robert Kennaway Douglas, China (1904), p. 8 | Variant translations: The ruffian and the villain we call a mere fellow. I have heard of killing the fellow Chou; I have not heard of killing a king. In Free China Review , Vol. 5 (1955) I have merely heard of killing a villain Zhou, but I ha
What it means
From Mencius 1B.8, defending the overthrow of the tyrant King Zhou of Shang. Mencius argues that a ruler who abandons benevolence and righteousness ceases to be a ruler in any meaningful sense; killing him is the killing of a private criminal, not regicide. The passage was politically explosive.
“Those who are humane achieve glory. Those who are inhumane suffer disgrace.”
2A:4
What it means
From Mencius 2A.4. Mencius treats the long-run consequences of ren (humaneness) and its absence as nearly automatic: humane rulers and societies thrive because they generate trust and cooperation, while inhumane ones decay even when they appear strong.
“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.”
The Mencius | Book 6, pt. 1, v. 6
What it means
From Mencius 6A.6. The line states Mencius's central anthropological thesis — that human nature, properly understood as the natural feelings before they are corrupted, tends spontaneously toward good. Evil, in his account, is the obstruction or perversion of this nature, not its expression.