Valuing Goodness Above Power

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孟（mèng）子（zǐ）曰（yuē）：（）“（）古（gǔ）之（zhī）贤（xián）王（wáng），（）好（hào）善（shàn）而（ér）忘（wàng）势（shì）。（）古（gǔ）之（zhī）贤（xián）士（shì），（）何（hé）独（dú）不（bù）然（rán）？（）乐（lè）其（qí）道（dào）而（ér）忘（wàng）人（rén）之（zhī）势（shì）。（）故（gù）王（wáng）公（gōng）不（bù）致（zhì）敬（jìng）尽（jìn）礼（lǐ），（）则（zé）不（bù）得（dé）亟（qì）见（jiàn）之（zhī）。（）见（jiàn）且（qiě）由（yóu）不（bù）得（dé）亟（qì），（）而（ér）况（kuàng）得（dé）而（ér）臣（chén）之（zhī）乎（hū）？（）”（）

Mencius said, “The worthy kings of antiquity loved what was good and forgot their power. Why should worthy scholars have been different? They took joy in the Way and paid no heed to another’s power. Therefore, unless a prince showed full respect and courtesy, he could not meet them repeatedly. If even repeated meetings were not assured, how could he make them his ministers?”

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Valuing Goodness Above Power

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