“They are done merely for ornament. … the common people regard them as supernatural.”

When people lack teachers, their tendencies are not corrected; when they do not have ritual and moral principles, then their lawlessness is not controlled.

Man’s nature is evil; goodness is the result of conscious activity.

Human nature refers to what is in people but which they cannot study or work at achieving.

The drum is surely the lord of music, is it not?

The person attempting to travel two roads at once will get nowhere.

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.

If the gentleman has ability, he is magnanimous, generous, tolerant, and straightforward, through which he opens the way to instruct others.

Human nature is what Heaven supplies.

The coming of honor or disgrace must be a reflection of one’s inner power.

If the quickness of the mind and the fluency of the tongue are too punctilious and sharp, moderate them in your activity and rest.

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.

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.

The nature of man is evil; what is good in him is artificial.

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.

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.

In antiquity the sage kings recognized that men’s nature is bad and that their tendencies were not being corrected and their lawlessness controlled.

Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.

Creativity is not merely the innocent spontaneity of our youth and childhood; it must also be married to the passion of the adult human being, which is a passion to live beyond one’s death.

Like poetry, fashion does not state anything. It merely suggests.

It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority.

Very few people can keep going their whole life doing something and feel like it’s merely personally fascinating.

To be well informed, one must read quickly a great number of merely instructive books. To be cultivated, one must read slowly and with a lingering appreciation the comparatively few books that have been written by men who lived, thought, and felt with style.

Strength is not nearly as important as desire. I don’t think you can teach anyone desire. I think it’s a gift. I don’t know why I have it, but I do.

I believe man will not merely endure, he will prevail…because he has a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.