Mencius 7B.9
Mencius (孟子), Book 7, Part II: Jin Xin II 盡心下
孟子曰：「身不行道，不行於妻子；使人不以道，不能行於妻子。」
Mencius said, 'If a man himself do not walk in the right path, it will not be walked in even by his wife and children. If he order men according to what is not the right way, he will not be able to get the obedience of even his wife and children.'
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
- 身shēnbody, torso; person; pregnancy
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 行xíngto go, to walk, to move; professional
- 道dàomethod, way; path, road
- 於yúat, in, on; to, from; alas!
- 妻qīwife
- 使shǐcause, mission, orders; envoy, messenger
- 人rénman, person; people
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 能néngcan, may; capable, full of energy
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi On Declining Power
- Zhuangzi The Circling Sky
- Mencius 6A.10
- Mencius 2A.2
- Zhuangzi The Universe
- Mencius 7A.22
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.