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

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

If there is no dull and determined effort, there will be no brilliant achievement.

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

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.

Pride and excess bring disaster for man.

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

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

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.

You look upon the seasons with expectation and await them: wy not seize the seasonal opportunities and exploit them?

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

Trees were so rare in that country, and they had to make such a hard fight to grow, that we used to feel anxious about them, and visit them as if they were persons.

Sometimes I wish I could feel more painso I could touch that much more beauty.

If you buy a man who is half dead, everybody may be happy off the field, but on the field you'll have major problems

Thanksgiving is a typically American holiday...The lavish meal is a symbol of the fact that abundant consumption is the result and reward of production.

We, the women of the Senate, with President Obama by our side, will keep fighting - our shoulders square, our lipstick on - because you deserve equal pay for your hard work.

When you have solar panels, your electricity gets there for free, no one's figured out how to meter the sun yet. And that's good.

When I first met Sean Connery he was as charming and wonderful as I first anticipated. I left Rome thinking: even if I don't do this, at least I have had a day with Sean.

I am not trying to influence anyone into black magic. That is the very last thing I'd want to do.

Many great actions are committed in small struggles.

For intellectual authority, the appropriate version of Descartes 's cogito would be today: I am talked about, therefore I am.