Q0210
“When the granaries are full, people know ritual and restraint; when food…” — Guanzi (Guanzi, On Shepherding the People)
Verified English quotation. Primary source: Guanzi, On Shepherding the People. Theme: society.
English
When the granaries are full, people know ritual and restraint; when food and clothing are sufficient, they know honor and shame.
Source and attribution
The archive attributes this English wording to Guanzi, On Shepherding the People and files it under Legalism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
About Guanzi
Guanzi appears in this archive through verified English quotations associated with the Legalism tradition. Biographical certainty varies by figure and text; where the “author” is a scripture or school anthology, read the name as a traditional attribution rather than a modern individual biography.
Interpretation
Guanzi is making a claim about the material preconditions of ethical conduct, not about human nature. His argument is that ritual and shame are not reliably sustained among people whose survival is uncertain, so a government that wants an ordered society should secure livelihood first. This is not a denial of moral capacity but a claim about what it needs in order to operate. The sentence appears in a work of statecraft, addressed to a ruler weighing policies.
Why it matters
It is an argument worth reviving whenever conduct is blamed without examining conditions: the question is what the behaviour requires in order to be possible.
Concepts in this quote
- Society
- Society is the web of institutions, customs, and mutual expectations in which individual freedom takes shape.
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.
Frequently asked questions
What is the source of the quotation “When the granaries are full, people know ritual…”?
The passage is attributed to Guanzi, Guanzi, On Shepherding the People. The archive attributes this English wording to Guanzi, On Shepherding the People and files it under Legalism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
What does Guanzi mean by society?
Social philosophy asks how individuals and collectives constitute each other, and what justice requires of shared life. This passage enters that discussion through society.