
Portrait: anonymous · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Ancient · Chinese
Mencius
c. 372–289 BCE
Born in Zou, China
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Revered as Confucianism’s “Second Sage.”
Argued that human nature is innately good.
Seeing a child about to fall into a well, anyone feels alarm.
A ruler who abandons benevolence may rightly be overthrown.
Legend: his mother moved house three times to find good influences.


