A person is born with a liking for profit.
Xun Zi

A person is born with desires of the eyes and ears, and a liking for beautiful sights and sounds. If he gives way to them, they will lead him to immorality and lack of restriction, and any ritual principles and propriety will be abandoned.
Xun Zi

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.
Xun Zi

Human nature is evil, and goodness is caused by intentional activity.
Xun Zi

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.
Xun Zi

Human nature is what Heaven supplies.
Xun Zi

Human nature refers to what is in people but which they cannot study or work at achieving.
Xun Zi

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.
Xun Zi

I once tried thinking for an entire day, but I found it less valuable than one moment of study.
Xun Zi

If knowledge and foresight are too penetrating and deep, unify them with ease and sincerity.
Xun Zi


If the blood humor is too strong and robust, calm it with balance and harmony.
Xun Zi

If the gentleman has ability, he is magnanimous, generous, tolerant, and straightforward, through which he opens the way to instruct others.
Xun Zi

If the impulse to daring and bravery is too fierce and violent, stay it with guidance and instruction.
Xun Zi

If the quickness of the mind and the fluency of the tongue are too punctilious and sharp, moderate them in your activity and rest.
Xun Zi

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?
Xun Zi

In antiquity the sage kings recognized that men's nature is bad and that their tendencies were not being corrected and their lawlessness controlled.
Xun Zi

In order to properly understand the big picture, everyone should fear becoming mentally clouded and obsessed with one small section of truth.
Xun Zi

Mencius said that human nature is good. I disagree with that.
Xun Zi

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

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.
Xun Zi