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Learning proceeds until death and only then does it stop. ... Its purpose cannot be given up for even a moment. To pursue it is to be human, to give it up to be a beast.

— Xunzi Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy (2001)

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More quotes by Xunzi

A questioner asks: If human nature is evil, then where do ritual and rightness come from? I reply: ritual and rightness are always created by the conscious activity of the sages.

Sources of Chinese Tradition (1999)

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?

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

Fayek S. Hourani (2012)

The person attempting to travel two roads at once will get nowhere.

Errick A. Ford (2010)

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

Joan Klostermann-Ketels (2011)

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Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.

G. K. Chesterton

There is the love of knowing without the love of learning; the beclouding here leads to dissipation of mind.

Confucius

Learning will be cast into the mire and trodden down under the hoofs of a swinish multitude.

Edmund Burke Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Xunzi (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.