If metal is put to the grindstone, it can be sharpened. And if the gentleman studies widely and each day examines himself, his wisdom will become clear and his conduct be without fault. . . . Children born among the Han or Yueh people of the south and among the Mo barbarians of the north cry with the same voice at birth, but as they grow older they follow different ways. Education causes them to differ. For Hsun Tzu, learning is gradual and incremental, and though it begins in the classics, it never ceases.
True civilization is moral and spiritual in nature and it is nurtured through lifelong learning.
The gentleman trains his eyes so that they desire only to see what is right, his ears so that they desire to hear only what is right, his mind so that it desires to think only what is right. When he has reached this stage, he cannot be subverted by power or the love of profit. He cannot be swayed by the masses. He cannot be moved by the world. This is what is called constancy of virtue. . . .