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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.

Xunzi

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Xunzi
Something
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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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Sacrifice is a state of mind in which our thoughts turn with longing [toward Heaven, the Ancestors], It is the supreme expression of loyalty, love, and respect.
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Human nature is evil, and goodness is caused by intentional activity.
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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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If there is no dull and determined effort, there will be no brilliant achievement.
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If the gentleman has ability, he is magnanimous, generous, tolerant, and straightforward, through which he opens the way to instruct others.
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The rigid cause themselves to be broken the pliable cause themselves to be bound.
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Those whose character is mean and vicious will rouse others to animosity against them.
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The noble person uses things the lesser man is used by things.
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Mencius said that human nature is good. I disagree with that.
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Man's nature is evil goodness is the result of conscious activity.
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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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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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Sacrifices are concerned with the feelings of devotion and longing.
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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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The person attempting to travel two roads at once will get nowhere.
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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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Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.
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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 what Heaven supplies.
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