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Chen Dai said to his teacher Mencius: “You refuse to visit feudal lords – it seems overly modest, even petty. If you’d just go see one once, at best you could implement the Kingly Way; at least, you might help him achieve hegemony. And as the old saying goes: ‘Bend one chi (about a…
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Mencius said: “He who uses force under the guise of benevolence achieves hegemony. Hegemony requires a great state. But he who practices benevolence through virtue achieves true kingship – and kingship does not depend on size. King Tang ruled with only seventy li of territory; King Wen with only a hundred li.”
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Gongsun Chou asked Mencius, “If you should hold the power of government in Qi, could you achieve great deeds like Guan Zhong and Yanzi?”
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7.5 The Master said,”How utterly have things gone to the bad with me! It is long now indeed since I dreamed that I saw the Duke of Zhou.”
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3.22 The Master said, “Guan Zhong was in reality a man of very narrow capacities.”