"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."
"The myriad things are complete in us. There is no greater joy than to reflect on ourselves and become sincere."
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Source: The Mencius. 1B:8, as translated in China (1904) by Sir Robert Kennaway Douglas, p. 8, c. 300 BC.
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