Mencius 7A.38
Mencius (孟子), Book 7, Part I: Jin Xin I 盡心上
孟子曰：「形色，天性也；惟聖人，然後可以踐形。」
Mencius said, 'The bodily organs with their functions belong to our Heaven-conferred nature. But a man must be a sage before he can satisfy the design of his bodily organization.'
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
- 形xíngform, shape; to appear; to describe; to
- 色sècolor, tint, hue, shade; beauty, form; s
- 天tiānsky, heaven; god, celestial
- 性xìngsex, nature, character; suffix convertin
- 也yěalso, too
- 惟wéibut, however, nevertheless; only
- 聖shèngholy, sacred; sage, saint
- 人rénman, person; people
- 然ráncertainly; naturally; suddenly
- 後hòuafter; behind, rear; descendants
- 可kěmay, can, -able; possibly
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 踐jiànto trample, to tread on, to walk over
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi Horses' Hoofs
- Zhuangzi The Tao of God
- Analects 19.12
- Zhuangzi Knowledge travels North
- Zhuangzi The Secret of Life
- Zhuangzi Mountain Trees
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.