Gao Zi I · Passage 15 / 20 · 孟子 6A.15
Mencius 6A.15: the ruling heart makes the great person
The difference between a great person and a little person is not birth but which part governs: the thinking heart or the outward-pulled senses.
公都子問曰：「鈞是人也，或為大人，或為小人，何也？」孟子曰：「從其大體為大人，從其小體為小人。」曰：「鈞是人也，或從其大體，或從其小體，何也？」曰：「耳目之官不思，而蔽於物。物交物，則引之而已矣。心之官則思；思則得之，不思則不得也。此天之所與我者，先立乎其大者，則其小者不能奪也。此為大人而已矣。」
The disciple Gong Du said, 'All are equally men, but some are great men, and some are little men - how is this?' Mencius replied, 'Those who follow that part of themselves which is great are great men; those who follow that part which is little are little men.' Gong Du pursued, 'All are equally men, but some follow that part of themselves which is great, and some follow that part which is little - how is this?' Mencius answered, 'The senses of hearing and seeing do not think, and are obscured by external things. When one thing comes into contact with another, as a matter of course it leads it away. To the mind belongs the office of thinking. By thinking, it gets the right view of things; by neglecting to think, it fails to do this. These - the senses and the mind - are what Heaven has given to us. Let a man first stand fast in the supremacy of the nobler part of his constitution, and the inferior part will not be able to take it from him. It is simply this which makes the great man.'
Priority note
A human-edited reading layer
Central question
Why does Mencius define the difference between a great person and a little person through the greater and lesser parts of the self?
Direct answer
Because he wants to relocate moral rank from social status to governing structure. If the senses are always dragged by external objects, a person stays reactive; if the heart thinks and leads, larger judgment becomes possible.
First principle
The problem is not that humans have desires. The problem is whether there is a center capable of ordering them instead of being ruled by them.
Why it matters
This passage ties human goodness to cultivation. If the heart is by nature capable of thinking, then becoming a 'great person' is not a label fixed at birth but a matter of sustained direction.
Further reading
What this passage is doing
This is passage 15 of 20 in Gao Zi I. The cleanest entry point is "All are equally men, but some are great…". In context, it works as part of Mencius's argument about human goodness, desire, and the debates with Gaozi and can be read alongside Humane government / kingly way.
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Related principles
Citation note
Do not read 'great person' and 'little person' as mere insult language. The decisive line is that the heart thinks and thereby attains, which makes the passage structural rather than emotional.