Human nature is evil, and goodness is caused by intentional activity.
XUNZIWhen you concentrate on agriculture and industry and are frugal in expenditures, Heaven cannot impoverish your state.
More Xunzi Quotes
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If there is no dull and determined effort, there will be no brilliant achievement.
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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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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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If the impulse to daring and bravery is too fierce and violent, stay it with guidance and instruction.
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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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Human nature refers to what is in people but which they cannot study or work at achieving.
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If the blood humor is too strong and robust, calm it with balance and harmony.
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The person attempting to travel two roads at once will get nowhere.
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When people lack teachers, their tendencies are not corrected; when they do not have ritual and moral principles, then their lawlessness is not controlled.
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Those whose character is mean and vicious will rouse others to animosity against them.
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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 knowledge and foresight are too penetrating and deep, unify them with ease and sincerity.
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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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If the gentleman has ability, he is magnanimous, generous, tolerant, and straightforward, through which he opens the way to instruct others.
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The nature of man is evil; what is good in him is artificial.
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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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Sacrifices are concerned with the feelings of devotion and longing.
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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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Quarreling over food and drink, having neither scruples nor shame, not knowing right from wrong, not trying to avoid death or injury, not fearful of greater strength or of greater numbers, greedily aware only of food and drink – such is the bravery of the dog and boar.
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The drum is surely the lord of music, is it not?
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I 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.
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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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When a man sees something desirable, he must reflect on the fact that with time it could come to involve what is detestable. When he sees something that is beneficial, he should reflect that sooner or later it, too, could come to involve harm.
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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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The rigid cause themselves to be broken; the pliable cause themselves to be bound.
XUNZI