Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.
XUNZIWhen people lack teachers, their tendencies are not corrected; when they do not have ritual and moral principles, then their lawlessness is not controlled.
More Xunzi Quotes
-
-
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.
XUNZI -
The person attempting to travel two roads at once will get nowhere.
XUNZI -
The rigid cause themselves to be broken; the pliable cause themselves to be bound.
XUNZI -
If there is no dull and determined effort, there will be no brilliant achievement.
XUNZI -
Whether the gentleman is capable or not, he is loved all the same; conversely the petty man is loathed all the same.
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 -
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.
XUNZI -
Human nature refers to what is in people but which they cannot study or work at achieving.
XUNZI -
In antiquity the sage kings recognized that men’s nature is bad and that their tendencies were not being corrected and their lawlessness controlled.
XUNZI -
Mencius said that human nature is good. I disagree with that.
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 -
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.
XUNZI -
Man’s nature is evil; goodness is the result of conscious activity.
XUNZI -
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.
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