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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.
Xunzi
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Xunzi
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More quotes by Xunzi
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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If knowledge and foresight are too penetrating and deep, unify them with ease and sincerity.
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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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You look upon the seasons with expectation and await them: wy not seize the seasonal opportunities and exploit them?
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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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Thus, that one can find no place to walk through the breadth of the earth is not because the earth is not tranquil but because the danger to every step of the traveler lies generally with words.
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I once tried thinking for an entire day, but I found it less valuable than one moment of study.
Xunzi
Those whose character is mean and vicious will rouse others to animosity against them.
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One must remember equality, yet also be aware of difference, for if the people are allowed to act as it pleases them without coming up against displeasure, if one gives rein to its desires without setting [any] limit, it becomes confused and can no longer take delight in anything.
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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.
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The drum is surely the lord of music, is it not?
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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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They are done merely for ornament. ... the common people regard them as supernatural.
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Quarreling over food and drink, having neither scruples nor shame, not knowing right from wrong, not trying to avoid death or injury, not fearful of greater strength or of greater numbers, greedily aware only of food and drink - such is the bravery of the dog and boar.
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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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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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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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If there is no dull and determined effort, there will be no brilliant achievement.
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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.
Xunzi
Whether the gentleman is capable or not, he is loved all the same conversely the petty man is loathed all the same.
Xunzi