老吾老以及人之老

Respect the aged in your own family, and extend that respect to the aged of others.

《孟子》

"Treat the elders in one's own family with respect, and extend the same respect to the elders of others" comes from Mencius, King Hui of Liang, Part I. It means: when supporting and respecting one's own elders, one should also put oneself in others' place and likewise respect their elders. It embodies the core Confucian ideas of "benevolence" and "extending kindness," emphasizing a moral expansion from close kin to distant others and from near to far, rather than loving only one's own relatives. Its deeper meaning is to advocate a universal social concern and the virtue of respecting the elderly, requiring people to extend family ethics to the social level and form an order of mutual assistance and harmony. It is mostly used in discussions of moral cultivation, social ethics, respecting and loving the elderly, or criticizing selfishness. In terms of cultural background, it is closely connected with the traditional Chinese ideal of the "Great Harmony" and the culture of filial piety. Its emotional tone is solemn and positive, carrying a sense of exhortation and moral instruction.

1. We advocate the spirit of "respecting our own elders and extending that respect to the elders of others," and we proactively offer our seats to all elderly people on public buses. (It means to respect and care for one's own elders, and by extension, to respect and care for the elders of others.) 2. The community's elderly care activities are precisely a practice of the traditional virtue of "respecting our own elders and extending that respect to the elders of others," so that every elderly person can feel warmth. (It means to extend the respect and care one has for one's own elders to other elderly people.)