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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?

Xunzi

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Xunzi
Order
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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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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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Sacrifices are concerned with the feelings of devotion and longing.
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The rigid cause themselves to be broken the pliable cause themselves to be bound.
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The person attempting to travel two roads at once will get nowhere.
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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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Pride and excess bring disaster for man.
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Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.
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The coming of honor or disgrace must be a reflection of one's inner power.
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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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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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