Xun Zi Quotes

If the blood humor is too strong and robust, calm it with balance and harmony.

Music is a fantastic peacekeeper of the world, it is integral to harmony, and it is a required fundamental of human emotion.

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.

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

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.

Mencius said that human nature is good. I disagree with that.

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

Those whose character is mean and vicious will rouse others to animosity against them.

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

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

Pride and excess bring disaster for man.

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

When you locate good in yourself, approve of it with determination. When you locate evil in yourself, despise it as something detestable.

The rigid cause themselves to be broken; the pliable cause themselves to be bound.

If the impulse to daring and bravery is too fierce and violent, stay it with guidance and instruction.

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

Human nature is evil, and goodness is caused by intentional activity.

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.

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.

Sacrifices are concerned with the feelings of devotion and longing.

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

If what the heart approves conforms to proper patterns, then even if one's desires are many, what harm would they be to good order?

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.