“Most precious are the people; next come the spirits of land and grain; and last, the kings.”

— Mencius

(zh-TW) 民為貴，社稷次之，君為輕。
7B:14. Variant translations:
Of the first importance are the people, next comes the good of land and grains, and of the least importance is the ruler.
The people are the most important ... and the ruler is the least important.
The Mencius
Variant: The people are the most important element in a nation; the spirits of the land and grain come next; the sovereign counts for the least.

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Mencius 18

Chinese philosopher -372–-289 BC

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“Of the first importance are the people, next comes the good of land and grains, and of the least importance is the ruler.”

Mencius (-372–-289 BC) Chinese philosopher

7B:14. Variant translation: The people are the most important ... and the ruler is the least important.

The people are the most important element in a nation; the spirits of the land and grain come next; the sovereign counts for the least. note: Most precious are the people; next come the spirits of land and grain; and last, the princes. note: The people are the most important ... and the ruler is the least important.
The Mencius

“We avoid sensuousness, only by resorting to simple negation. We come at last to define spirit by saying that it is not matter. Spirit is — spirit.”

Albert Pike book Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry

Source: Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871), Ch. III : The Master, p. 63
Context: To present a visible symbol to the eye of another, is not necessarily to inform him of the meaning which that symbol has to you. Hence the philosopher soon superadded to the symbols explanations addressed to the ear, susceptible of more precision, but less effective and impressive than the painted or sculptured forms which he endeavored to explain. Out of these explanations grew by degrees a variety of narrations, whose true object and meaning were gradually forgotten, or lost in contradictions and incongruities. And when these were abandoned, and Philosophy resorted to definitions and formulas, its language was but a more complicated symbolism, attempting in the dark to grapple with and picture ideas impossible to be expressed. For as with the visible symbol, so with the word: to utter it to you does not inform you of the exact meaning which it has to me; and thus religion and philosophy became to a great extent disputes as to the meaning of words. The most abstract expression for Deity, which language can supply, is but a sign or symbol for an object beyond our comprehension, and not more truthful and adequate than the images of Osiris and Vishnu, or their names, except as being less sensuous and explicit We avoid sensuousness, only by resorting to simple negation. We come at last to define spirit by saying that it is not matter. Spirit is — spirit.