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.
XUNZIThus, 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.
More Xunzi Quotes
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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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Human nature is evil, and goodness is caused by intentional activity.
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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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The rigid cause themselves to be broken; the pliable cause themselves to be bound.
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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 gentleman has ability, he is magnanimous, generous, tolerant, and straightforward, through which he opens the way to instruct others.
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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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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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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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Human nature is what Heaven supplies.
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You look upon the seasons with expectation and await them: wy not seize the seasonal opportunities and exploit them?
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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.
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They are done merely for ornament. … the common people regard them as supernatural.
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If the blood humor is too strong and robust, calm it with balance and harmony.
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If there is no dull and determined effort, there will be no brilliant achievement.
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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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There are successful scholars, public-spirited scholars, upright scholars, cautious scholars, and those who are merely petty men.
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The drum is surely the lord of music, is it not?
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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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The person attempting to travel two roads at once will get nowhere.
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Those whose character is mean and vicious will rouse others to animosity against them.
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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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The noble person uses things; the lesser man is used by things.
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Mencius said that human nature is good. I disagree with that.
XUNZI