Human nature is evil — goodness has to be trained into us

Where Mencius saw innate compassion, Xunzi saw raw appetite: left alone, people gravitate toward selfishness, envy and conflict. He argued that ritual, education and deliberate effort — not natural instinct — are what bend a person toward virtue. Civilization, on this view, exists to correct nature, not express it.

— Xunzi, Xunzi — Chapter 23, 'Human Nature Is Evil,' 3rd century BCE