"When Heaven is about to confer a great office on a 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."
"Benevolence is one of the distinguishing characters of man."
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Source: Confucius, Mencius, 左丘明 (1971). “The Chinese classics with a translation, critical and exegetical notes: prolegomena and copious indexes”
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