Mencius Quotes on Knowledge
Mencius (Mengzi, c. 372 – c. 289 BC), the second great figure of the early Confucian tradition, defended in the seven books of the Mencius the doctrine that human nature is innately good (xing shan) — that the moral knowledge necessary for the cultivated life is present in every person as a set of "four sprouts" of compassion, shame, deference, and the sense of right and wrong. Knowledge for Mencius is therefore the extension and cultivation of capacities the agent already possesses rather than the acquisition of an alien content from without, and the famous debates with Gaozi and the Mohists preserve the disputes over this doctrine that defined early Chinese moral epistemology.
Quotes
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“He who exerts his mind to the utmost knows his nature.”
7A:1, as translated by Wing-tsit Chan in A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (1963), p. 62 -
“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 -
“If the king loves music , there is little wrong in the land.”
Discourses , as quoted in "I Want to Know!" by Ivan Gogol Esipoff, The Etude , Vol. LXIII, No. 9 (September 1945), p. 496 -
“Mencius went to see King Huei of Liang. The king said, "Venerable sir, since you have not counted it far to come here, a distance of a thousand li , may I presume that you are provided with counsels to profit my kingdom?" Mencius replied, " Why must your Majesty use that word " profit "? What I am provided with, are counsels to benevolence and righteousness , and these are my only topics.”
Book 1, part 1, as translated by James Legge in The Life and Works of Mencius (1875), p. 124 -
“Those who are humane achieve glory. Those who are inhumane suffer disgrace.”
2A:4 -
“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 i”
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 possessing these four and saying that he can not do what is required of him is abasing himself. Yao Dan, translated by Li Ziliang, Li Guoqing and Zhao Feifei, Chinese Literature: From 'The Book of Songs' to 'A Dream of Red Mansions' (Beijing: China Intercontinental Press, 2006), p. 24”
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 i -
“The way of learning is none other than finding the lost mind .”
The Mencius | 6A:11, as translated by Wing-tsit Chan in A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (1963), p. 58 -
“The great end of learning is nothing else but to seek for the lost mind.”
Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient(1882) | "Uses and Sanctions", no. 32 -
“How lamentable is it to neglect the path and not pursue it, to lose the mind and not know to seek it again! When men’s fowls and dogs are lost, they know to seek for them again, but they lose their mind and do not know to seek for it.”
Nitobe Inazō , Bushido: The Soul of Japan , 13th ed. (1908), p. 21 -
“"Knowledge and Wisdom", no. 131 · "Celebration and Worship", no. 587”
Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient(1882)