James Legge

“ Mencius is more than forty years old when he comes before us as a public character. He must have spent much time in study, investigating questions as to the fundamental principles of morals and society, and brooding over the condition of the country. The history, the poetry, the institutions and the great men of the past had received his attention. He intimates that he had been in communication with men who had been disciples of Confucius. That sage had become to him the chief of mortal men, the object of his untiring admiration ”

“ When the sovereign had become a pest instead of a blessing, he believed that Heaven would raise up some one for the help of the people, some one who should so conduct himself in his original subordinate position as to draw all eyes and hearts to himself. Let him then raise the standard not of rebellion but of righteousness, and he could not help attaining to the highest dignity. Mencius hoped to find one among the rulers of his day who might be made into such a minister, and he counselled one and another to adopt measures with that object. ”

“ In Confucius’s time we meet with recluses who had withdrawn in disgust from the world and its turmoil; but these had now given place to a class of men who came forth from their retirements provided with arts of war or schemes of policy which they recommended to the contending chiefs, ever ready to change their allegiance as they were moved by whim or interest. Mencius was once asked about two of them, “Are they not really great men? Let them be angry, and all the princes are afraid. Let them live quietly, and the flames of trouble are everywhere extinguished.” ”

“ In opposition to all these views Mencius contended that the nature of man is good. “Water,” he said, “will flow indifferently to the east or west; but will it flow indifferently up or down? The tendency of man’s nature to goodness is like the tendency of water to flow downwards. By striking water you may make it leap over your forehead; and by damming and leading it you may make it go up a hill. But such movements are not according to the nature of water; it is the force applied which causes them. When men do what is not good, their nature has been dealt with in this way.” ”

“ For the mouth to desire flavours, the eye colours, the ear sounds, and the four limbs ease and rest belong to man’s nature. An individual’s lot may restrict him from the gratification of them; and in such a case the superior man will not say, ‘My nature demands that pleasure, and I will get it.’ On the other hand, there are love between father and son, righteousness between ruler and minister, the rules of ceremony between host and guest, and knowledge seen in recognizing the able and virtuous, and in the sage’s fulfilling the heavenly course;—these are appointed (by Heaven) . ”

“ This appreciation of learning or culture has exercised a powerful influence over the government under both conditions of its existence; and out of it grew the system of making literary merit the passport to official employment. The ancient doctrine was that the scholar’s privilege was from Heaven as much as the sovereign’s right; the modern system is a device of the despotic rule to put itself in Heaven’s place, and have the making of the scholar in its own hands. The feeling and conviction out of which the system grew prevailed in the time of Mencius. ”

“ Sometimes he may seem to express himself too strongly, but an attentive study of his writings shows that he is speaking of our nature in its ideal, and not as it actually is—as we may ascertain, by an analysis of it, that it was intended to be, and not as it has been made to become.
Mencius insists on the constituents of human nature, dwelling especially on the principles of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom or knowledge, the last including the judgment of conscience. “These,” said he, “are not infused into us from without. ”

“ The people must find out the will of Heaven as to who should be their ruler for themselves. There was another old saying which delighted Mencius—“Heaven sees as the people see; Heaven hears as the people hear.” He taught accordingly that, while government is from God, the governors are from the people;—vox populi vox Dei. No claim then of a “divine right ' should be allowed to a sovereign if he were not exercising a rule for the good of the people. “The people are the most important element in a nation ”

“ When Heaven is about to confer a great office on any man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and his sinews and bones with toil. It exposes his body to hunger, subjects him to extreme poverty, and confounds his undertakings. ”

“ Men have these four principles just as they have their four limbs.” But man has also instincts and appetites which seek their own gratification without reference to righteousness or any other control. He met this difficulty by contending that human nature is a constitution, in which the higher principles are designed to rule the lower. ”

“ When one is ashamed of having been without shame, he will afterwards not have occasion for shame.”
“To nourish the heart there is nothing better than to keep the desires few. Here is a man whose desires are few; in some things he may not be able to keep his heart, but they will be few. Here is a man whose desires are many; in some things he may be able to keep his heart, but they will be few.”
“Benevolence is the distinguishing characteristic of man. ”

“ When he first comes forth from Tsâu, he is accompanied by several eminent disciples. He had probably imitated Confucius in becoming the master of a school, and encouraging the resort to it of inquiring minds that he might resolve their doubts and unfold to them the right methods of government. One of his sayings is that it would be a greater delight to the superior man to get the youth of brightest promise around him and to teach and train them than to enjoy the revenues of the kingdom. ”

“ Mencius, however, said to him, “A man’s advancement or the arresting of it may seem to be effected by others, but is really beyond their power. My not finding in the marquis of Lû a ruler who would confide in me and put my lessons in practice is from Heaven.” ”

“ Mencius found the nation nominally one, and with the traditions of two thousand years affirming its essential unity, but actually divided into seven monarchies, each seeking to subdue the others under itself. ”

“ He taught, therefore, that men should love others as themselves; princes, the states of other princes as much as their own; children, the parents of others as much as their own. Mo, in his gropings, had got hold of a noble principle, but he did not apprehend it distinctly nor set it forth with discrimination. To our philosopher the doctrine appeared contrary to the Confucian orthodoxy about the five relations of society ”

“ In all these ways it stimulates his mind, strengthens his nature, and supplies his in competencies.”
“The great man is he who does not lose his child-heart.”
“The sense of shame is to a man of great importance. ”