Q0149

“Those who have the Way receive much help; those who lose the…” — Mencius (Mencius, Gongsun Chou II)

Verified English quotation. Primary source: Mencius, Gongsun Chou II. Theme: justice.

English

Those who have the Way receive much help; those who lose the Way receive little help.
Thinker Mencius
School Confucianism
Source Mencius, Gongsun Chou II
Theme Justice
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to Mencius, Gongsun Chou II and files it under Confucianism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About Mencius

Mencius (Meng Ke, c. 371–c.

How to read this passage

Distributive, retributive, and restorative justice name different problems. Political philosophy asks what a just society owes its members and outsiders. This passage enters that discussion through justice.

Concepts in this quote

Justice
Justice concerns fairness, rights, desert, and the arrangement of institutions that claim to treat people as equals.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Mencius. (n.d.). Those who have the Way receive much help; those who lose the Way receive little help. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0149

MLA: Mencius. “Those who have the Way receive much help;….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0149.

Chicago: Mencius. “Those who have the Way receive much help;….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0149.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “Those who have the Way receive much help;…”?

The passage is attributed to Mencius, Mencius, Gongsun Chou II. The archive attributes this English wording to Mencius, Gongsun Chou II and files it under Confucianism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

What does Mencius mean by justice?

Distributive, retributive, and restorative justice name different problems. Political philosophy asks what a just society owes its members and outsiders. This passage enters that discussion through justice.

Same thinker

More from Mencius

  1. From this we know that we survive through adversity, and perish in ease and pleasure.
  2. Thus, when Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on someone, it first afflicts his mind and will, exhausts his muscles and bones, starves his body, subjects him to poverty, and confounds his undertakings — so as to stir his mind, harden his nature, and increase his capacities.
  3. Mencius said: In obscurity, cultivate yourself alone; when successful, bring goodness to all under Heaven.
  4. Mencius said: Those who love others are constantly loved by others; those who respect others are constantly respected by others.
  5. The heart of compassion is possessed by all; so too the hearts of shame, of respect, and of right and wrong.

All quotations by Mencius

Same theme

More on justice

  1. The Master said: If one hears the Way in the morning, one may die content that evening.
  2. The highest good is like water. Water benefits the myriad things and does not contend; it dwells in places the multitude dislike — therefore it is close to the Way.
  3. Humans model themselves on earth; earth on heaven; heaven on the Way; and the Way on what is naturally so.
  4. Ordinary mind is the Way.
  5. What Heaven mandates is called nature; following nature is called the Way; cultivating the Way is called teaching.

Browse the justice theme