Li Si warns Han’s king: Zhao will attack Han first. Qin and Han share risks. Submit to Qin, or face invasion and ruin.
Han Fei is accused of cunningly serving Han while advising Qin. He uses rhetoric to hide motives, prioritize Han’s interests, and advance his own status.
Mencius said: “When people in the world talk about ‘human nature’, they are really just talking about the ‘inherent patterns’ of things. And these patterns are fundamentally rooted in ‘natural course and inherent tendencies’. What we dislike about cleverness is that it often forces artificial interpretations. But if the wise acted like Yu the…
Mencius said: “The influence of a noble person lasts for five generations and then ends; the legacy of a petty person also ends after five generations. I never had the chance to be Confucius’s direct disciple, but I learned his Dao by privately admiring and studying through his later followers.”
Mencius said: “A person must know what not to do, before they can truly accomplish anything meaningful.”
Mencius said: “If a ruler executes scholar-officials without just cause, then high ministers may leave the state.If a ruler massacres common people without guilt, then scholar-officials (educated individuals) may relocate to another country.”
Mencius said: “Shun was born in Zhufeng, moved to Fuxia, and died in Mingtiao – he was a man of the Eastern Yi (eastern frontier peoples).King Wen of Zhou was born in Qizhou and died in Biying – he was a man of the Western Yi (western frontier peoples).” “Their homelands were over a…