Mencius Quotes on Virtue
Mencius (c. 372–289 BC) developed the most influential Confucian theory of human nature against the rival positions of Mozi and Yang Zhu. The famous doctrine of the four sprouts — the spontaneous moral feelings of compassion, shame, deference, and right-and-wrong — argues that human nature is good, in the sense that every human being is born with the seeds of the four cardinal virtues (humaneness, righteousness, propriety, wisdom) which education and self-cultivation are required to bring to mature expression. The framework grounds Mencius's political philosophy: the legitimate ruler is the one whose government extends his own innate humaneness to the people, and the people retain the right of revolt against rulers who systematically fail this test.
Quotes
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“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 -
Attributed to Mencius:
“If you love others and they don't love you, look at your own benevolence.”
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Attributed to Mencius:
“All things are already complete in oneself.”
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Attributed to Mencius:
“Benevolence is man's heart, righteousness is man's path.”
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“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 -
Attributed to Mencius:
“Try the difficult things while they are easy; do the great things while they are small.”
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“The virtues are not poured into us, they are natural. Seek, and you will find them: neglect, and you will lose them.”
Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient(1882) | "Uses and Sanctions", no. 22