Confucian Analects · Analects 12.19
Chi K'ang asked Confucius about government, saying, 'What do you say to killing the unprincipled for the good of the principled?' Confucius replied, 'Sir, in carrying on your government, why should you use killing at all? Let your evinced desires be for what is good, and the people will be good. The relation between superiors and inferiors, is like that between the wind and the grass. The grass must bend, when the wind blows across it.'
Chinese · source text【十九章】李康子問政於孔子、曰、如殺無道、以就有道、何如。孔子對曰、子為政、焉用殺、子欲善、而民善矣、君子之德風、小人之德草、草上之風必偃。
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Confucius · English translation by James Legge · bilingual transcription
James Legge, The Chinese Classics, Volume 1: Confucian Analects · Project Gutenberg #4094
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