Page 257 - 《孟子》（四）中·英对照版

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The reply was, “Their aim led them to talk
magniloquently, saying, ‘The ancients!’ ‘The
ancients!’ But their actions, where we fairly compare
them with their words, did not correspond with
them. When he found also that he could not get such
as were thus ambitious, he wanted to get scholars
who would consider anything impure as beneath
them. Those were the cautiously-decided, —class
next to the former.” Zhang pursued his questioning,
“Confucius said, ‘They are only your good careful
people of the villages at whom I feel no indignation,
when they pass my door without entering my house.
Your good careful people of the villages are the
thieves of virtue.’ ”

“What sort of people were they who could be
styled ‘Your good careful people of the villages?’”

Mencius replied, “They are those who say,
‘Why are they so magniloquent? Their words have
not respect to their actions and their actions have not

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