In what piece of literature does the quote" great is the man who has
his chidlren's hearts" appear?

---

Request for Question Clarification by thx1138-ga on 30 Oct 2003 08:43 PST

Hello duma and thank you for your question.

Are you positive that this is the exact wording? I have a very similar
quote but the wording is slightly different, and thus the sense of the
quote is different.

Best regards

THX1138

---

Clarification of Question by duma-ga on 30 Oct 2003 09:40 PST

I am not sure this is exactly the quote. and I always thought for some
reason it was in a poem by Ursula LeGruin.

---

Clarification of Question by duma-ga on 01 Nov 2003 03:53 PST

Please look for the quote i the works of poet Ursula Le Gruin

Hello duma and thank you for your question.

I'm quite sure that the quote you are looking for is "Great is the man
who has not lost his child-like heart" The quote is attributed to
Mencius (371-288 B.C.)
http://www.inspirational-messages.com/quotes/empower.php?cid=3&pg=2

Please let me know if this is the quote you were thinking of.

Best regards

THX1138

do you know from which if his works this comes?

Hello again duma.

Yes I do, it comes from the fourth book, chapter 12 of The book of
Mencius. See below.

"Mencius (371-289 B.C.) was a pupil of a pupil of Tzu-Ssu, Confucius'
grandson. Mencius' doctrine is called Idealistic Confucianism because
"while Confucius no more than implied that human nature is good,
Mencius declared definitely that it is originally good." (Wing-Tsit
Chan, pp. 49-50.) Mencius' philosophy of human nature is summed up in
the following argument from The Book of Mencius."

"4B:12. Mencius said, “The great man is one who does not lose his
[originally good] child’s heart"
http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~cp28/confuc.htm

"The book of Mencius is a collection of conversations the philosopher
has with various individuals: intellectuals, students, and
politicians. The writings illustrate the philosophy of Mencius and his
interpretation of Confucianism. Mencius clearly attempts to expound on
the teachings of Confucius, and attempts to clarify the teachings in
light of different and opposing philosophies. In Mencius we see the
philosopher’s optimistic views on human nature as essentially good and
moral. Through the collection of conversations we travel on a journey
through Chinese philosophy within a historical context."
http://www.academon.com/lib/paper/8310.html

"The "Book of Mencius" is generally accepted as genuine, though the
evidence of its Mencian authorship is of a kind that would not be
judged sufficient if it fell within the scope of modern historic
criticism. In a Chinese history dating from 100 B.C., a short account
of Mencius is given, in which he is declared to
be the author of the work in seven books that bears his name."
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10179a.htm


Hope this helps, let me know if this answers your question.

Very best regards

THX1138

Hi duma,

I also came across the following:

"Great is the man who does not lose his child mind." (Meng-Tse)

Regards,
emjay-ga

Yes, it comes from an article of Mencius. The name of the article
should be "Li Lou Xia" or "Li Lou - 2". I don't understand what is Li
Lou. It might be the name of a mountain.

If we translate the sentence to English from ancient Chinese
literally, it would be:
"The great man is somebody who doesn't lost the heart of red-baby"

Because the color of newly born baby's skin is red, in ancient China,
the newly born baby is also called red-baby (or red-guy).

I believe that translating the 'red-baby' to 'child' is not very
accurate. Anyway, I am not an expert on this issue.