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.
XUNZIThere are successful scholars, public-spirited scholars, upright scholars, cautious scholars, and those who are merely petty men.
More Xunzi Quotes
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Those whose character is mean and vicious will rouse others to animosity against them.
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The petty man is eager to make boasts, yet desires that others should believe in him. He enthusiastically engages in deception, yet wants others to have affection for him. He conducts himself like an animal, yet wants others to think well of him.
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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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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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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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There are successful scholars, public-spirited scholars, upright scholars, cautious scholars, and those who are merely petty men.
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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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If there is no dull and determined effort, there will be no brilliant achievement.
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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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The rigid cause themselves to be broken; the pliable cause themselves to be bound.
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If the quickness of the mind and the fluency of the tongue are too punctilious and sharp, moderate them in your activity and rest.
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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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If knowledge and foresight are too penetrating and deep, unify them with ease and sincerity.
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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.
XUNZI