Mencius - Book 4, Part 2, Chapter 20

Mencius said, 'Yü hated the pleasant wine, and loved good words.

'T'ang held fast the Mean, and employed men of talents and virtue without regard to where they came from.

'King Wan looked on the people as he would on a man who was wounded, and he looked towards the right path as if he could not see it.

King Wû did not slight the near, and did not forget the distant.

'The duke of Châu desired to unite in himself the virtues of those kings, those founders of the three dynasties, that he might display in his practice the four things which they did. If he saw any thing in them not suited to his time, he looked up and thought about it, from daytime into the night, and when he was fortunate enough to master the difficulty, he sat waiting for the morning.'
~ James Legge translation via nothingistic.org ~

Go here to read the introductory post to this serialized version of the Works of Mencius.