Mencius 4B.5
Mencius (孟子), Book 4, Part II: Li Lou II 離婁下
孟子曰：「君仁莫不仁，君義莫不義。」
Mencius said, 'If the sovereign be benevolent, all will be benevolent. If the sovereign be righteous, all will be righteous.'
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
- 君jūnsovereign, ruler, prince, monarch, chief
- 仁rénbenevolent, humane, kind
- 莫mòcannot; do not; is not; negative
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 義yìright conduct, propriety; justice
Passages with shared wording
- Mencius 4A.20
- Zhuangzi Man Among Men
- Mencius 7A.4
- Zhuangzi The Tao of God
- Zhuangzi Kêng Sang Ch’u
- Analects 7.15
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.