Q0210

Guanzi

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

When the granaries are full, people know ritual and restraint; when food and clothing are sufficient, they know honor and shame.
Thinker Guanzi
School Legalist-related
Source Guanzi, On Shepherding the People
Theme Philosophy
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Guanzi, On Shepherding the People, within the tradition of Legalist-related. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of philosophy, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Guanzi's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Guanzi. (n.d.). When the granaries are full, people know ritual and restraint; when food and clothing are sufficient, they know honor and shame. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0210

MLA: Guanzi. “When the granaries are full, people know ritual….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0210.

Chicago: Guanzi. “When the granaries are full, people know ritual….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0210.

Same theme

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