The Philosophical Cannon

Mencius

《梁惠王上 - Liang Hui Wang I》

1:

We should not be motivated by profit and instead, be motivated by benevolence and righteousness. Profit inspires evil – it is finite and people will use each other to attain it. On the other hand, there has never been a person who is both benevolence and righteousness yet is motivated to be evil.

2:

A virtuous person not only enjoys the happiness in life but is the only one who can recognize the happiness in life.

3:

A person who runs 50m and a person who runs 100m away from the enemy are both cowards. How cowardly someone is doesn't matter as much as that they are cowards. There is no difference between slight cowardice and extreme cowardice.

There is no difference between a person who has food watching a man starve and a person stabbing another person to death. Indirectly and directly killing someone are all murder. Indifference and blaming other factors is not an excuse when you have the ability to help.

4:

If a king has fat horses in the stable but starving people in the street then the government is corrupt. Allowing people to starve whilst having the food to prevent it is the same as directly condemning them to death.

5:

Sparing punishments and decreasing taxes will allow people to flourish. When people flourish they will look after the fields better, they will be healthier, they will be better citizens and become more amiable. Happier citizens make a stronger kingdom. Benevolent people have no enemies.

6:

The only way to have peace is to unite kingdoms under a person who finds no pleasure in killing men.

7:

Everyone innately has the capacity for love and empathy. Those who say they are incapable simply say that because they do not want to.

A man who wishes to eat meat wisely stays away from the slaughterhouse because empathy with an animal prevents a man from eating it. To express love and empathy for people, a king must, therefore, first mingle with the people. Indifference is a choice.

《梁惠王下 - LiangHui Wang II》

8:

A good government is one that is inclusive. Just as a meal is more enjoyable when shared with others, just as music is more enjoyable shared with more than less, a government is better when everything is shared.

9:

Perspective is dependent on consequences. If everyone is allowed into a large garden and given freedom to do what they wish, there are no consequences and people will take the large garden for granted and view it as a small garden instead of large. Conversely, if hardly anyone is allowed into a small garden and their actions within the garden are strictly limited with severe consequences for any rules broken, then people will view the small garden as very large. Something small can be seen as big and vice versa regardless of its objective size. What matters most is our perspective.

10:

True valour is not protecting one's reputation but is helping other people protect theirs. True valour is the strong helping the weak. By helping the weak the strong become stronger.

True valour is the weak helping the strong. By helping the strong the weak learn to help themselves.

11:

If people do not enjoy themselves, they weaken the kingdom. Happy citizens make a better kingdom. If the king is happy but the peasants are not then it is a bad kingdom. If the peasants are happy then the king will rejoice in their happiness.