The king changed colour when he heard these
words, and Mencius added: "The king must
not deem my words extraordinary. If the king
interrogate his subject, his subject dares say
nothing which is opposed to right and truth."

Once he said to the prince: "If a man were
commanded to carry off a great mountain and
fling it into the sea, he might well answer, 'I
cannot do this;' but if he were told to tear away
the branch of a young tree, and replied, 'I cannot,'
he would exhibit indisposition, but not
impotence. Now a monarch who governs amiss
should not compare himself to the man who is
expected to throw the big mountain into the
ocean, but to one who refuses to pluck the
branch from the tree."

Again he told his sovereign: "There was
little substantial glory in splendid repasts or
in costly robes, in crowds of vassals, or in
military renown; but in good government, in
the choice of virtuous ministers, in the
encouragement of the labourers in the field, and
the artisan in the workshop, in the courtesies to
foreign guests, in the pure administration of
justice, in the education of the people, and in the
strengthening of all the social and domestic
relations."

Again he said: "The love of music is
becoming, of the chase is blameless, but he is the
best ruler who enables his people to participate
in his pleasures. If the prince rejoice in the
joys of his people, the people will rejoice in his
joy. If he be saddened with their sadness, they
will be sad when he is sad;  and if he rejoice
with everybody, everybody will rejoice with
him."

In a conversation with Mencius, Kaou-tze said:
"The nature of man resembles running water,
turn it towards the east it runs towards the
east, turn it towards the west it runs towards
the west. Man's nature does not distinguish
good from evil, any more than the water
distinguishes the east from the west."

Mencius: "True! the water does not distinguish
the east from the west, but can it not
distinguish height from depth? Man's nature is
naturally good, as the water runs naturally
downward. There is no man who is not
naturally good, as there is no water that does not
naturally descend.

"But if you stop the course of the water
you may make it mount above your forehead.
Place obstacles in its way, it will flow back to
its source, nay, you may carry it over a mountain.
But is this the nature of the waters? No!
it is constraint.

"And so men may be constrained to evil, this
their nature permits.

"Man's natural tendency is towards good.
Our nature is good. If we commit vicious acts,
it is not because the faculty (of doing good) is
wanting. All men have the feelings of mercy
and pity, all the sense of shame and hatred of
vice. All have the sentiments of deference and
respect, all the sense of praise and blame.

"The sentiment of mercy and pity is
humanity, that of shame and hatred of vice is
equity, that of deference and respect is urbanity,
that of approbation and blame is wisdom.
Humanity, equity, urbanity, and wisdom are not of
outward growth, they are in us and from within
us, though we do not think of this."

"If," says Mencius, "in abundant years good
actions predominate, if in sterile years evil
actions, it is not that man's nature is different,
but that passion has attacked and submerged
the heart and led it away to evil."

"The passions which cause man to abandon
the noble sentiments of the heart are like the
axe and the scythe, which cut down the
beautiful vegetation of the mountain."

"Princes have their precious possessions,
their territory, their people, and a good
administration. Those who consider pearls and
precious stones as their treasures will be
overtaken by calamity."

"All men have the sense of commiseration.
To extend it to all pain and suffering is humanity.
All men have the sentiment of what is
not right to be done. To extend this to all they
do is equity."

"Simple words of sound sense are the best."

"Men abandon their own fields to remove
tares from the fields of other men."

"When pulse and corn are as plentiful as fire
and water, what should prevent the people from
being virtuous?"

"While you listen to a man's words, watch
the movement of his eyes, and you will
penetrate his disguises."

"Being without blame, he went forth to be
executed."*

"Diffuse knowledge, interchange employments,
so that the deficiencies of some may be
filled up by the superfluities of others."

"Sacrifice not in an unclean vessel."

"A beggar will not value what is trampled
on."

"The courage of the impetuous is far less
virtuous than the courage of the thoughtful."

* Self-sacrifice for the benefit of one's family or
country, is held in China to be a merit of the
highest order. In cases where substitution is
allowed, there is no difficulty in finding an innocent
man to be executed, who sells himself for about a
hundred ounces of silver (£30 to £40), and so
provides for his widow and family. I knew of a case
in which a distinguished literary graduate wrote a
petition to the emperor representing the grievances
of his people, who were in a state of insurrection.
The grievances were acknowledged and redressed,
but their eloquent exponent delivered himself over
to the Mandarins to be dealt with as the authorities
should deem fit. The nails were torn from his
fingers as a punishment for having written the
petition, and he was ordered for execution, and was
decapitated. A temple was built in his honour, a
pension was awarded by the people to his family,
and everybody seemed satisfied that everything
right and proper was done on the occasion.