Mencius 7B.3
Mencius (孟子), Book 7, Part II: Jin Xin II 盡心下
孟子曰：「盡信《書》，則不如無《書》。吾於《武成》，取二三策而已矣。仁人無敵於天下。以至仁伐至不仁，而何其血之流杵也？」
Mencius said, 'It would be better to be without the Book of History than to give entire credit to it. In the "Completion of the War," I select two or three passages only, which I believe. "The benevolent man has no enemy under heaven. When the prince the most benevolent was engaged against him who was the most the opposite, how could the blood of the people have flowed till it floated the pestles of the mortars?"'
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
- 盡jǐnto exhaust, to use up, to deplete
- 信xìnto trust, to believe; letter, sign
- 書shūbook, letter, document; writing
- 則zérule, law, regulation; grades
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 如rúas, as if, like, such as, supposing
- 無wúno, not; lacking, -less
- 吾wúI, my, our; to resist, to impede
- 於yúat, in, on; to, from; alas!
- 武wǔmilitary; martial, warlike
- 成chéngto accomplish; to become; to complete, t
- 取qǔto take, to receive, to obtain; to selec
- 二èrtwo; twice
- 三sānthree
- 策cèto urge, to whip; method, plan, policy
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 已yǐalready; finished; to stop; then, afterw
- 矣yǐparticle of completed action
- 仁rénbenevolent, humane, kind
- 人rénman, person; people
- 敵díenemy, foe, rival; to match; to resist
- 天tiānsky, heaven; god, celestial
- 下xiàbelow, underneath; inferior; to bring do
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 至zhìreach, arrive; very, extremely
- 伐fácut down, subjugate, attack
- 何héwhat, why, where, which, how
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 血xuèblood
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 流liúto flow, to drift, to circulate; class
- 杵chǔpestle; to grind
- 也yěalso, too
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi The Tao of God
- Zhuangzi The Universe
- Mencius 2A.1
- Zhuangzi Knowledge travels North
- Zhuangzi Man Among Men
- Zhuangzi Hsü Wu Kuei
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.