Quotes from Mencius

The disease of men is that they neglect their own fields and go to weed the fields of others.

Never has a man who has bent himself been able to make others straight.

He who attends to his greater self becomes a great man, and he who attends to his smaller self becomes a small man.

A real man is he whose goodness is a part of himself.

Listen to a man's words and look at the pupil of his eye. How can a man conceal his character?

Friendship with a man is friendship with his virtue, and does not admit of assumptions of superiority.

Benevolence is one of the distinguishing characters of man.

Men must be decided on what they will not do, and then they are able to act with vigor in what they ought to do.

The way is near, but men seek it afar. It is in easy things, but men seek for it in difficult things.

Mankind fears an evil man but heaven does not.

If Confucius wasn't born, the long night would have no bright lamp.

The root of the kingdom is in the state. The root of the state is in the family. The root of the family is in the person of its head.

The path of duty lies in what is near, and men seek for it in what is remote; the work of duty lies in what is easy, and men seek for it in what is difficult.

It is not difficult to govern. All one has to do is not to offend the noble families.

A trail through the mountains, if used, becomes a path in a short time, but, if unused, becomes blocked by grass in an equally short time.

Without effective protection of the citizens' right to property, it will be difficult to attract and accumulate valuable capital.

Every duty is a charge, but the charge of oneself is the root of all others.

Let men decide firmly what they will not do, and they will be free to do vigorously what they ought to do.

Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence

I dislike death, however, there are some things I dislike more than death. Therefore, there are times when I will not avoid danger.

Friendship with a man is friendship with his virtue.

Friends aren't jumper cables. You don't throw them into the trunk and pull them out for emergencies.

All people have the common desire to be elevated in honour, but all people have something still more elevated in themselves without knowing it.

Only those who develop their minds and spirits to the utmost can serve Heaven and fulfill their own destinies.