Xunzi

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?

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.

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.

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.

Since the nature of people is bad, to become corrected they must be taught by teachers and to be orderly they must acquire ritual and moral principles.

The rigid cause themselves to be broken; the pliable cause themselves to be bound.

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

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