Confucius, a renowned thinker, politician, and educator, lived in the State of Lu in Shandong during the late Spring and Autumn Period. He founded the Confucian school of thought and is deeply revered by later generations.
Mencius, born in the Warring States period over a century after Confucius's death in the state of Zou (modern-day Shandong), was the great inheritor of Confucian thought. He held Confucius in the highest esteem, regarding him as a genius beyond ordinary men.
One day, Mencius' disciple Gongsun Chou asked him, "Both Boyi and Yi Yin were learned and virtuous men—are they on par with Confucius?" Mencius replied, "They were indeed worthy men, but not sages." Gongsun Chou pressed, "Master, then you must already be a sage!"
Mencius said, "Once Zigong asked Confucius, 'Master, are you already a sage?' Confucius replied, 'A sage—I cannot achieve that. I merely learn without satiety and teach without weariness.' Even Confucius dared not claim to be a sage—so what am I?"
"Then, what exactly makes Confucius different from others?" Gongsun Chou asked again.
Mencius said, "Everything in the world has its hierarchy—the unicorn among beasts, the phoenix among birds, Mount Tai over a mound, rivers over streams—all are of the same kind yet clearly distinct. Sages and common people are both human, of the same kind, but sages far surpass the masses, towering above humanity. Since the dawn of humankind, no one has been greater or more sagely than Confucius."
Later, the idiom "Standing Out from the Crowd" came to describe a person whose virtue or talent surpasses ordinary people, or something that excels beyond others.
Source: *Mencius*, Chapter "Gongsun Chou I"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "出类拔萃" came to describe a person whose virtue or talent surpasses ordinary people, or something that excels beyond others.