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So I like life and I like righteousness; if I cannot keep the two together, I will let life go and choose righteousness.

Mencius

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

Authority Difficult Family Government
To lay hold of the mean without taking into account the occasion is like grasping one thing only.
MENCIUS

Oneself Understand
Human nature is good, just as water seeks low ground. There is no man who is not good, just as there is no water that does not flow downward.
MENCIUS

Goodness Human Humanity Men Nature Water
Where it is permissible both to die and not to die, it is an abuse of valour to die.
MENCIUS

Death Freedom
The Tao is near and people seek it far away.
MENCIUS

Effort People Spiritual
When Heaven is about to confer a great office upon you, it first exercises your mind with suffering and your sinews and bones with toil.
MENCIUS

Greatness Heaven Suffering
The best things in life come in threes, like friends, dreams, and memories.
MENCIUS

Dream Friendship Life Material Memories
Friends are the siblings God never gave us.
MENCIUS

Friendship God
He who loves others is constantly loved by them. He who respects others is constantly respected by them.
MENCIUS

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

Destiny Development Heaven Mindset
To feed men and not to love them is to treat them as if they were barnyard cattle. To love them and not respect them is to treat them as if they were household pets.
MENCIUS

Freedom Men Pet
A real man is he whose goodness is a part of himself.
MENCIUS

Goodness Man Reality
The tendency of mans nature to good is like the tendency of water to flow downward.
MENCIUS

Flow Human Nature Water
To act without clear understanding, to form habits without investigation, to follow a path all one’s life without knowing where it really leads; such is the behavior of the multitude.
MENCIUS

Act Ignorance Leadership Life Understand
Those who follow the part of themselves which is great are great men; those who follow the part which is little are little men.
MENCIUS

Greatness Men
Treat your elders as elders, and extend it to the elders of others; treat your young ones as young ones, and extend it to the young ones of others; then you can turn the whole world in the palm of your hand.
MENCIUS

Hands Respect World

So I like life and I like righteousness; if I cannot keep the two together, I will let life go and choose righteousness.

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So I like life and I like righteousness; if I cannot keep the two together, I will let life go and choose righteousness.

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