Xun Kuang Quotes
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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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The person attempting to travel two roads at once will get nowhere.
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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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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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The coming of honor or disgrace must be a reflection of one's inner power.
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Human nature is evil, and goodness is caused by intentional activity.
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In order to properly understand the big picture, everyone should fear becoming mentally clouded and obsessed with one small section of truth.
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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.
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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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If there were no human nature, then there would be nothing for deliberate effort to be applied to. If there were no deliberate effort, then human nature would not be able to beautify itself.
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Pride and excess bring disaster for man.
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The rigid cause themselves to be broken; the pliable cause themselves to be bound.
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Human nature refers to what is in people but which they cannot study or work at achieving.
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A person who is shallow aspires to depth; one who is ugly aspires to beauty; one who is narrow aspires to breadth; one who is poor aspires to wealth; one who is humble aspires to esteem. Whatever one lacks in oneself he must seek outside.
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Human nature and deliberate effort must unite, and then the reputation of the sage and the work of unifying all under Heaven are thereupon brought to completion.
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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 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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A person is born with a liking for profit.
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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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If knowledge and foresight are too penetrating and deep, unify them with ease and sincerity.
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If the blood humor is too strong and robust, calm it with balance and harmony.
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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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The learning of the gentleman enters through his ears, fastens to his heart, spreads through his four limbs, and manifests itself in his actions. ... The learning of the petty person enters through his ears and passes out his mouth. From mouth to ears is only four inches—how could it be enough to improve a whole body much larger than that?
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Mencius said that human nature is good. I disagree with that.