Mencius 7A.30
Mencius (孟子), Book 7, Part I: Jin Xin I 盡心上
孟子曰：「堯舜，性之也；湯武，身之也；五霸，假之也。久假而不歸，惡知其非有也。」
Mencius said, 'Benevolence and righteousness were natural to Yao and Shun. Tang and Wu made them their own. The five chiefs of the princes feigned them. Having borrowed them long and not returned them, how could it be known they did not own them?'
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
- 堯yáoa legendary ancient emperor-sage
- 舜shùnlegendary ruler
- 性xìngsex, nature, character; suffix convertin
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 也yěalso, too
- 湯tāngsoup, gravy, broth; hot water
- 武wǔmilitary; martial, warlike
- 身shēnbody, torso; person; pregnancy
- 五wǔfive; surname
- 霸bàtyrant; to usurp, to rule by might
- 假jiǎfake, false, deceitful; vacation
- 久jiǔlong ago; a long time
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 歸guīto return, to go back; to return to, to
- 惡èbad, evil, wicked; to hate, to loathe; f
- 知zhīto know, to perceive, to comprehend
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 非fēinot, negative, non-; to oppose
- 有yǒuto have, to own, to possess; to exist
Passages with shared wording
- Mencius 7B.33
- Mencius 6B.7
- Mencius 3B.9
- Zhuangzi The Great Supreme
- Zhuangzi Hsü Wu Kuei
- Zhuangzi Contingencies
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.