Mencius 4B.13
Mencius (孟子), Book 4, Part II: Li Lou II 離婁下
孟子曰：「養生者不足以當大事，惟送死可以當大事。」
Mencius said, 'The nourishment of parents when living is not sufficient to be accounted the great thing. It is only in the performing their obsequies when dead that we have what can be considered the great thing.'
James Legge (1861), The Works of Mencius, The Chinese Classics vol. 2 (1861; 2nd ed. 1895); romanization modernized on Wikisource — public domain.
Character glossary
- 孟mèngfirst in a series; great, eminent
- 子zison, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thin
- 曰yuēto speak; to say
- 養yǎngto raise, to rear, to bring up; to suppo
- 生shēnglife, lifetime; birth; growth
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 足zúfoot; to attain, to satisfy; enough
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 當dāngappropriate, timely; to act, to serve; t
- 大dàbig, great, vast, high, deep
- 事shìaffair, matter, business; to serve; acci
- 惟wéibut, however, nevertheless; only
- 送sòngto see off, to send off, to dispatch; to
- 死sǐdead; death; impassable, inflexible
- 可kěmay, can, -able; possibly
Passages with shared wording
- Mencius 7B.35
- Zhuangzi Man Among Men
- Zhuangzi The Secret of Life
- Zhuangzi On Declining Power
- Mencius 6B.8
- Zhuangzi The Universe
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0); Chinese Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.