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.
XUNZITherefore, 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.
More Xunzi Quotes
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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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Human nature refers to what is in people but which they cannot study or work at achieving.
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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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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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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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They are done merely for ornament. … the common people regard them as supernatural.
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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.
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The nature of man is evil; what is good in him is artificial.
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Man’s nature is evil; goodness is the result of conscious activity.
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The noble person uses things; the lesser man is used by things.
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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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Sacrifices are concerned with the feelings of devotion and longing.
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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.
XUNZI