人生于自然。自然赋予的资本不少，可见者为肉体，不可见者还有本能、资质之类。但为了能活并且活得好，他或她就还要取得应付环境的多种能力。这多种能力，可以概括为两个方面：知和德。人生来都是野的，为了能在自然的社会中生活，而且活得好，就必须变野为文。变野为文，要靠身外的力量以文明化之。
Human beings are born in nature. Nature bestows them a lot. The visible one is physical body and those invisible include instinct and intelligence. In order to live a life or live a better life, however, he or she must obtain multiple abilities to cope with the environment. Those multiple abilities can be divided into two aspects: knowledge and morality. Human beings are born to be barbarous. But if they want to make a living in natural society and have a better life, they must transform barbarism into civilization, which depends on outside strength.