A person is born with feelings of envy and hate. If he gives way to them, they will lead him to violence and crime, and any sense of loyalty and good faith will be abandoned.
XUNZIIf the quickness of the mind and the fluency of the tongue are too punctilious and sharp, moderate them in your activity and rest.
More Xunzi Quotes
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The drum is surely the lord of music, is it not?
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I once tried thinking for an entire day, but I found it less valuable than one moment of study.
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Therefore, a person should first be changed by a teacher’s instructions, and guided by principles of ritual. Only then can he observe the rules of courtesy and humility, obey the conventions and rules of society, and achieve order.
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They are done merely for ornament. … the common people regard them as supernatural.
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There are successful scholars, public-spirited scholars, upright scholars, cautious scholars, and those who are merely petty men.
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If what the heart approves conforms to proper patterns, then even if one’s desires are many, what harm would they be to good order?
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The coming of honor or disgrace must be a reflection of one’s inner power.
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Thus, anybody who follows this nature and gives way its states will be led into quarrels and conflicts, and go against the conventions and rules of society, and will end up a criminal.
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Human nature is evil, and goodness is caused by intentional activity.
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Whether the gentleman is capable or not, he is loved all the same; conversely the petty man is loathed all the same.
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Misery is evil; quarreling, a misfortune. There is only one possibility of avoiding both: a clear division of society. [Otherwise] the strong tyrannize the weak, the intelligent frighten the stupid, the inferior resist the superior, and the young mock the old.
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Music is a fantastic peacekeeper of the world, it is integral to harmony, and it is a required fundamental of human emotion.
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When you concentrate on agriculture and industry and are frugal in expenditures, Heaven cannot impoverish your state.
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Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.
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If you wish to see the thousand years, look at today; if you wish to understand the millionfold, then look at the one or the two.
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Now it is human nature to want to eat to ones fill when hungry, to want to warm up when cold, to want to rest when tired. These all are a part of people’s emotional nature.
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One must remember equality, yet also be aware of difference, for if the people are allowed to act as it pleases them without coming up against displeasure, if one gives rein to its desires without setting [any] limit, it becomes confused and can no longer take delight in anything.
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Man’s nature is evil; goodness is the result of conscious activity.
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The nature of man is evil; what is good in him is artificial.
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If the quickness of the mind and the fluency of the tongue are too punctilious and sharp, moderate them in your activity and rest.
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Human nature refers to what is in people but which they cannot study or work at achieving.
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Since the nature of people is bad, to become corrected they must be taught by teachers and to be orderly they must acquire ritual and moral principles.
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Sacrifice is a state of mind in which our thoughts turn with longing [toward Heaven, the Ancestors], It is the supreme expression of loyalty, love, and respect.
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In antiquity the sage kings recognized that men’s nature is bad and that their tendencies were not being corrected and their lawlessness controlled.
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Not having heard something is not as good as having heard it; having heard it is not as good as having seen it; having seen it is not as good as knowing it; knowing it is not as good as putting it into practice.
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If the gentleman has ability, he is magnanimous, generous, tolerant, and straightforward, through which he opens the way to instruct others.
XUNZI