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

Xunzi

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Xunzi
Intentional
Caused
Goodness
Activity
Evil
Nature
Human
Humans

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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.
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The rigid cause themselves to be broken the pliable cause themselves to be bound.
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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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When you concentrate on agriculture and industry and are frugal in expenditures, Heaven cannot impoverish your state.
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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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Sacrifices are concerned with the feelings of devotion and longing.
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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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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.
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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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The nature of man is evil what is good in him is artificial.
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Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.
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If there is no dull and determined effort, there will be no brilliant achievement.
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If knowledge and foresight are too penetrating and deep, unify them with ease and sincerity.
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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 what the heart approves conforms to proper patterns, then even if one's desires are many, what harm would they be to good order?
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Music is a fantastic peacekeeper of the world, it is integral to harmony, and it is a required fundamental of human emotion.
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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.
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