The trees on Ox Mountain were once beautiful. But because they were close to a large city, they were felled by axes. How could they remain beautiful? Yet, even so, the sprouting branches and leaves would grow again in the morning dew. But cattle and sheep grazed there, and so it became barren. When people see it barren, they think it never had trees. Is this the true nature of the mountain? And is it the true nature of man that he has no benevolent mind?
— Mencius
Ancient
Confucian philosopher
