Mencius Quotes on Politics
Mencius developed the political side of Confucian philosophy with a striking emphasis on the people, and the quotes gathered here present it. His most famous political statement reverses the usual hierarchy: of the first importance are the people, next the altars of land and grain, and of the least importance is the ruler. Mencius grounded the ruler's legitimacy in the popular will and ultimately in Heaven, which, in a saying he cited, sees with the eyes of its people and hears with the ears of its people. He drew a radical conclusion about tyranny: a ruler who outrages benevolence and righteousness has become a mere villain, so that removing him is no regicide. Drawn from the Mencius, these passages present a politics in which the welfare of the people is both the measure and the source of legitimate rule.
Quotes
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Attributed to Mencius:
“Heaven sees with the eyes of its people; Heaven hears with the ears of its people.”
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“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 -
“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 have not heard of murdering the ruler. Wing-tsit Chan, in A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (1963), p. 78”
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 . -
“I have merely heard of killing a villain Zhou, but I have not heard of murdering the ruler.”
The Mencius | Wing-tsit Chan, in A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (1963), p. 78 -
“Of the first importance are the people, next comes the good of land and grains, and of the least importance is the ruler.”
The Mencius -
“The people are the most important ... and the ruler is the least important.”
The Mencius