In antiquity the sage kings recognized that men’s nature is bad and that their tendencies were not being corrected and their lawlessness controlled.
XUNZII once tried standing up on my toes to see far out in the distance, but I found that I could see much farther by climbing to a high place.
More Xunzi Quotes
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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.
XUNZI -
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.
XUNZI -
Man’s nature is evil; goodness is the result of conscious activity.
XUNZI -
If knowledge and foresight are too penetrating and deep, unify them with ease and sincerity.
XUNZI -
The petty man is eager to make boasts, yet desires that others should believe in him. He enthusiastically engages in deception, yet wants others to have affection for him. He conducts himself like an animal, yet wants others to think well of him.
XUNZI -
When you concentrate on agriculture and industry and are frugal in expenditures, Heaven cannot impoverish your state.
XUNZI -
The rigid cause themselves to be broken; the pliable cause themselves to be bound.
XUNZI -
The person attempting to travel two roads at once will get nowhere.
XUNZI -
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?
XUNZI -
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.
XUNZI -
The nature of man is evil; what is good in him is artificial.
XUNZI -
Thus, that one can find no place to walk through the breadth of the earth is not because the earth is not tranquil but because the danger to every step of the traveler lies generally with words.
XUNZI -
Human nature is such that people are born with a love of profit If they follow these inclinations, they will struggle and snatch from each other, and inclinations to defer or yield will die.
XUNZI -
When people lack teachers, their tendencies are not corrected; when they do not have ritual and moral principles, then their lawlessness is not controlled.
XUNZI -
Men of all social stations live together: they are equal in their desires, yet vary in their methods; they are equal in their passions, yet different in their intelligence; that is their nature-given vitality.
XUNZI