"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."
"I dislike death, however, there are some things I dislike more than death. Therefore, there are times when I will not avoid danger."
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Source: The Mencius. 2A:6, as translated by Wing-tsit Chan in A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, p. 65, 1963.
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