When people lack teachers, their tendencies are not corrected; when they do not have ritual and moral principles, then their lawlessness is not controlled.
XunziRead
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.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the dangers of succumbing to negative emotions like envy and hate, which can lead to destructive behavior.
Xunzi highlights the inherent emotional tendencies of humans, suggesting that feelings such as envy and hate are natural but must be controlled. If an individual allows these emotions to govern their actions, they risk engaging in violence and abandoning their morals, such as loyalty and good faith, ultimately leading to a breakdown of their character and society.
In practice
During a discussion about human nature in a philosophy class.
When people lack teachers, their tendencies are not corrected; when they do not have ritual and moral principles, then their lawlessness is not controlled.
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.
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?
If the gentleman has ability, he is magnanimous, generous, tolerant, and straightforward, through which he opens the way to instruct others.
In antiquity the sage kings recognized that men's nature is bad and that their tendencies were not being corrected and their lawlessness controlled.
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.
No form of violence can ever be excused in a society that wishes to call itself decent
Los Angeles gives one the feeling of the future more strongly than any city I know of. A bad future, too, like something out of Fritz Lang's feeble imagination.
We are still masters of our fate. We are still captains of our souls.
A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, ‘Where have they taken Him?’
No system of religion should go in partnership with barbarism. Neither should any Christian feel it his duty to defend the savagery of the past.
Humanity is exalted not because we are so far above other living creatures, but because knowing them well elevates the very concept of life.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.