孟子
Mengzi · c. 4th century BCE
Human nature is good; it only needs cultivating.
The second sage of Confucianism, and its great optimist.
The second sage of Confucianism, and its great optimist.
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If men suddenly see a child about to fall into a well, they will without exception experience a feeling of alarm and distress. The feeling of commiseration is the principle of benevolence.
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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. It exposes his body to hunger, and subjects him to extreme poverty. It confounds his undertakings. By all these methods it stimulates his mind, hardens his nature, and supplies his incompetencies.
