Mencius 7A.42
Mencius (孟子), Book 7, Part I: Jin Xin I 盡心上
孟子曰：「天下有道，以道殉身；天下無道，以身殉道。未聞以道殉乎人者也。」
Mencius said, 'When right principles prevail throughout the kingdom, one's principles must appear along with one's person. When right principles disappear from the kingdom, one's person must vanish along with one's principles. I have not heard of one's principles being dependent for their manifestation on other men.'
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
- 天tiānsky, heaven; god, celestial
- 下xiàbelow, underneath; inferior; to bring do
- 有yǒuto have, to own, to possess; to exist
- 道dàomethod, way; path, road
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 殉xùnmartyr; to die for a cause
- 身shēnbody, torso; person; pregnancy
- 無wúno, not; lacking, -less
- 未wèinot yet; 8th terrestrial branch
- 聞wénnews; to hear, to smell; to make known
- 乎hūinterrogative or exclamatory final parti
- 人rénman, person; people
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 也yěalso, too
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi Joined Toes
- Zhuangzi Man Among Men
- Mencius 3B.9
- Zhuangzi The Identity of Contraries
- Mencius 5A.7
- Mencius 1B.11
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.