During the Warring States Period, there was a man named Meng Ke [Mencius], who everyone called MengZi. Menzi was very good at creating analogies to foster discussion.　
At that time, there was a person who criticized Mencius for not trying harder to help the King of Qi. Mencius explained plainly, saying, “Take this as an example: there are some plants that live well on this earth [lit: under heaven], but if you take them and put them in the sun to dry for ten days, then you take them and put them in the gloom and cold to freeze for ten days, even if their vitality is strong they’re still going to die. My opportunities to see the King of Qi have been less and less, so even if I gave him some good influence and help, as soon as I leave, some people that don’t advocate the same things I do will influence him negatively. [That being the case,] how can I improve the quality of the King of Qi’s thinking?”

戰(zhàn)國時，有個叫孟軻的人，大家稱他為孟子。孟子善于通過打比方來發(fā)表議論。
當(dāng)時，有人指責(zé)孟子不盡力幫助齊王。孟子便解釋說:“比如說，天下有些易活的植物，假如把它放在太陽下曬十天，然后再把它放在陰冷的地方凍十天，即使是生命力再強的植物也會死。我見到齊王的機會少之甚少，即使給了他些良好的影響與幫助，我一離開，一些和我主張不同的人，又帶給他許多不好影響。我怎么能使齊王的思想、品質(zhì)好起來呢？”