1
Mencius said, 'Shun rose from among the channelled fields. Fû Yüeh was called to office from the midst of his building frames; Chiâo-ko from his fish and salt; Kwan Î-wû from the hands of his gaoler; Sun-shû Âo from his hiding by the sea-shore; and Pâi-lî Hsî from the market-place.

2
'Thus, when Heaven is about to confer a great office on any man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and his sinews and bones with toil. It exposes his body to hunger, and subjects him to extreme poverty. It confounds his undertakings. By all these methods it stimulates his mind, hardens his nature, and supplies his incompetencies.

3
'Men for the most part err, and are afterwards able to reform. They are distressed in mind and perplexed in their thoughts, and then they arise to vigorous reformation. When things have been evidenced in men's looks, and set forth in their words, then they understand them.

4
'If a prince have not about his court families attached to the laws and worthy counsellors, and if abroad there are not hostile States or other external calamities, his kingdom will generally come to ruin.

5
'From these things we see how life springs from sorrow and calamity, and death from ease and pleasure.'

1
Mencius said, 'He who has exhausted all his mental constitution knows his nature. Knowing his nature, he knows Heaven.

2
'To preserve one's mental constitution, and nourish one's nature, is the way to serve Heaven.

3
'When neither a premature death nor long life causes a man any double-mindedness, but he waits in the cultivation of his personal character for whatever issue;-- this is the way in which he establishes his Heaven-ordained being.'

1
Mencius said, 'There is an appointment for everything. A man should receive submissively what may be correctly ascribed thereto.

2
'Therefore, he who has the true idea of what is Heaven's appointment will not stand beneath a precipitous wall.

3
'Death sustained in the discharge of one's duties may correctly be ascribed to the appointment of Heaven.

4
'Death under handcuffs and fetters cannot correctly be so ascribed.'