Why is it said that you can t have both fish and bear s paws?

The idiom "You can't have both fish and bear's paws" comes from Mencius's "Fish I Want Chapter".

Fish, I want, bear's paw, I also want; You can't have both, and you can't have both, and those who give up the fish and take the bear's paw are also. Life, also what I want, righteousness, also what I want; You can't have both, and those who sacrifice their lives to take righteousness are also. Mencius used an analogy with concrete things that people are familiar with in their lives:

The fish is what I want, and the bear's paw is also what I want, and in the case that the two cannot be obtained at the same time, I would rather give up the fish and have the bear's paw; Life is what I cherish, and righteousness is also what I cherish, and in the case that the two cannot be obtained at the same time, I would rather give up my life in favor of righteousness. Here, Mencius compares life to a fish and righteousness to a bear's paw, arguing that righteousness is more precious than life just as a bear's paw is more precious than a fish.

This article is an excerpt from Mencius Gaozi I. The main content of "The Confession" is to clarify the "theory of goodness", that is, human nature is born with the seed of goodness, the so-called "compassion, everyone has it; Everyone has a heart of shame; Respectful heart is shared by everyone; Everyone has the heart of right and wrong". This kind of good nature is the "original heart" of man.

"Originality" should not be underestimated, because they are the germination forms of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom: "The heart of compassion is the end of benevolence; The heart of shame is also the end of righteousness; The heart of resignation (meaning close to "respectful") is also the end of courtesy; The heart of right and wrong, the end of righteousness. One should seek one's own mind, develop it in the direction of one's own mind, and carry it forward in order to become a morally perfect person.

Therefore, in the full text of "Under the Confession", this article is about everyone having a "heart", and no matter what the situation, people should keep their "heart". As long as the "heart" is there, even at the moment of life and death, people can withstand the test; And if we lose our "heart," we will do things that are detrimental to our personality.

I think that Liang Shanbo, Yu Zhuying, and Taiwan, the two great talents, also encountered the same problem during the imperial examination. This is a philosophical question, simply put, fish is an ordinary thing, bear paw is a treasure, in a person's life, often can not have both, want to get treasures, but can not have ordinary things; You want to get the ordinary things, but you can't get the expensive things. That's the truth, this represents two things in life, and the road of life is not arbitrary and smooth sailing.

Of course, from the perspective of eating, what was said upstairs is also very correct.

In ancient times, fish and bear paws were very precious things.

Fish and bear's paws. The reason why you can't have both is that "you can't get what you want at the same time", but the original meaning of this sentence is not to say that you can't have both, but to emphasize how to choose when you can't have both.

From Mencius's "Fish I Want".

Fish, I want, bear's paw, I also want; You can't have both, and you can't have both, and those who give up the fish and take the bear's paw are also. "Fish I Want" is an excerpt from Mencius and Gaozi I, which is a reasoning essay on moral standards and political discipline.

Fish, I want, bear's paw, also I want, can not have both, give up the fish and take the bear's paw. Life, what I want, righteousness, also what I want. You can't have both, and those who sacrifice their lives to take righteousness are also.

Meaning: both fish and bear's paw are delicious, I want both, but it is impossible to get both, then I will take the bear's paw, life and righteousness are what I want, but if I can't have both, I would rather lose my life for the sake of righteousness.

Mencius's words warn people to value righteousness and sacrifice their lives for righteousness, but people often forget the original meaning of burying auspiciousness and withering, but they relish that they can't have both fish and bear's paws. Although, this is also a truth.

People can't be too greedy, things can't let a person take advantage of everything, there will be gains and losses, we should learn to give up the secondary and take care of the important holes.

It is also what I want, from "Mencius Gaozi I": "Fish and fish, I also want."

Here Mencius used to explain that righteousness is more important than life, and it is necessary to cut love, and the bear's paw is also what I want, and righteousness is heavier than trillions of hardship and profit, and unrighteousness is shameful. Life, I want it, and I want it; You can't have both, and you can't have both, and those who give up the fish and take the bear's paw are also. ”

Mencius set up this metaphor to say that if people ask for both, they cannot get it at the same time; You can't have both, and those who give up the fish and take the bear's paw are also, and those who give up their lives to take righteousness. Mencius believed that morality was more important than the life of the people, just as the bear's paw was more valuable than the fish.

The allusion of the fish and the bear's paw, the righteousness is also what I want, and the two cannot be both.