Zhang

孟子曰：”舜發於畎畝之中，傳說舉於版築之間，膠鬲舉於魚鹽之中，管夷吾舉於士，孫叔敖舉於海，百里奚舉於市。”

“故天將降大任於是人也，必先苦其心志，勞其筋骨，餓其禮膚，空乏其身，行拂亂其所為，所以動心忍性，曾益其所不能.”

“人恆過，然後能改；困於心，衡於慮，而後作；微於色，發於聲，而後喻.”

“入則無法家拂士，出則無敵國外患者，國恆亡。然後知生於憂患，而死於安樂也。”

The second line can be translated by quoting Friedrich Nietzsche, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” however, it can’t cover some connotation in which only Chinese version can illustrate.

Thus, my version will cover most, but not all what Mencius says. It goes like this:

One who is destined to lead
has to endure one’s heart out and to work one’s butt off
regardless of starvation, destitution, or even jumble,
so that one can be nurtured from mind to heart
to become resilient and persistent
to the extent in which one otherwise cannot.