Mencius 7A.12
Mencius (孟子), Book 7, Part I: Jin Xin I 盡心上
孟子曰：「以佚道使民，雖勞不怨；以生道殺民，雖死不怨殺者。」
Mencius said, 'Let the people be employed in the way which is intended to secure their ease, and though they be toiled, they will not murmur. Let them be put to death in the way which is intended to preserve their lives, and though they die, they will not murmur at him who puts them to death.'
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
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 佚yìto indulge in pleasures; to flee
- 道dàomethod, way; path, road
- 使shǐcause, mission, orders; envoy, messenger
- 民míncitizens, subjects; a nation's people
- 雖suīalthough, even though
- 勞láoto labor, to toil; to do manual work
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 怨yuànto blame, to complain, to hate; enmity,
- 生shēnglife, lifetime; birth; growth
- 殺shāto kill, to murder, to slaughter; to hur
- 死sǐdead; death; impassable, inflexible
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi On Declining Power
- Art of War 7.31
- Zhuangzi Mountain Trees
- Zhuangzi Man Among Men
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 74
- Analects 14.36
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.