Mencius: Man

Mencius was Chinese philosopher. Explore interesting quotes on man.

Mencius: 36 quotes9 likes

“The great man is the one who does not lose his child's heart.”

Book 4, pt. 2, v. 12
Variant translations by Lin Yutang:
A great man is one who has not lost the child's heart.
A great man is he who has not lost the heart of a child.
The Mencius

“Before a man can do things there must be things he will not do.”

Mencius

Eugene H. Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, IVP, start of Ch 2.
Attributed
Source: Also quoted elsewhere and attributed to Mencius as "Only when there are things a man will not do is he capable of doing great things," again with no source.

“The superior man has three things in which he delights, and to be ruler over the kingdom is not one of them. That his father and mother are both alive, and that the condition of his brothers affords no cause for anxiety;—this is one delight. That, when looking up, he has no occasion for shame before Heaven, and, below, he has no occasion to blush before men;—this is a second delight. That he can get from the whole kingdom the most talented individuals, and teach and nourish them;—this is the third delight.”

Mencius

7A:20, as translated by James Legge in The Chinese Classics, Vol. II (1861), p. 335
The Mencius