Quotes from Mencius

The foundation of the world lies in the nation. The foundation of the nation lies in the family. The foundation of the family lies in the individual.

The best things in life come in threes, like friends, dreams, and memories.

Friendship is one mind in two bodies.

Friends are the siblings God never gave us.

There are three things which are unfilial, and to have no posterity is the greatest of them.

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.

The path of duty lies in what is near, and man seeks for it in what is remote.

Is it only the mouth and belly which are injured by hunger and thirst? Men's minds are also injured by them.

Friendship is one mind in two bodies.

The great end of learning is nothing else but to seek for the lost mind.

If the King loves music, it is well with the land.

Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and knowledge are not infused into us from without.

Truth uttered before its time is always dangerous.

Friends are the siblings God never gave us.

All men have in themselves that which is truly honorable. Only they do not think of it.

The great man is he who does not lose his child's-heart.

When one by force subdues men, they do not submit to him in heart. They submit, because their strength is not adequate to resist.

If the king loves music, there is little wrong in the land.

Benevolence is man's mind, and righteousness is man's path.

The people turn to a benevolent rule as water flows downwards, and as wild beasts fly to the wilderness.

Sincerity is the way of Heaven.

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 people are the most important element in a nation; the spirits of the land and grain are next; the sovereign is the lightest.

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