The person attempting to travel two roads at once will get nowhere.
XUNZIIf there is no dull and determined effort, there will be no brilliant achievement.
More Xunzi Quotes
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Therefore, 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.
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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 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 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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Human nature is evil, and goodness is caused by intentional activity.
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I once tried standing up on my toes to see far out in the distance, but I found that I could see much farther by climbing to a high place.
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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 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 the impulse to daring and bravery is too fierce and violent, stay it with guidance and instruction.
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Human nature is what Heaven supplies.
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Mencius said that human nature is good. I disagree with that.
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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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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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Sacrifices are concerned with the feelings of devotion and longing.
XUNZI