Mencius contrasts Confucius’ departures: he left his native Lu slowly out of deep affection, yet fled Qi hastily with uncooked rice. This shows Confucian flexible propriety—tender sentiment for homeland, decisive sense for foreign states.
Mencius differentiates two mourning cases. Those who voluntarily cut mourning deserve rebuke; those blocked by rules to observe full rites merit praise for any mourning they can manage, embodying flexible moral judgment.
Confucius assesses three types of ancient recluses with distinct moral stances. Unlike them, he holds no rigid fixed choices – he acts flexibly according to righteousness, embodying the supreme Confucian wisdom of timely adaptation and the Doctrine of the Mean.
Duke Jing of Qi planned to offer Confucius a middle-tier official rank but later declined to employ him, claiming old age. Confucius left Qi at once, refusing a powerless post and upholding his dignity to seek a ruler willing to fully implement his moral ideals.
Mencius explains Shun wed secretly to preserve the essential marital bond, for his hostile parents would forbid it. Though aware of his brother’s murder plots, Shun sincerely trusted his feigned care; gentlemen fall for plausible pretense but not absurd falsehoods.
There was a man who used to steal a chicken from his neighbours every day.