Xunzi Quotes

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

Man’s nature is evil; goodness is the result of conscious activity.

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

Sacrifices are concerned with the feelings of devotion and longing.

The noble person uses things; the lesser man is used by things.

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

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.

A person is born with feelings of envy and hate. If he gives way to them, they will lead him to violence and crime, and any sense of loyalty and good faith will be abandoned.

Pride and excess bring disaster for man.

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.

Whether the gentleman is capable or not, he is loved all the same; conversely the petty man is loathed all the same.

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