Sentence examples for virtuous influence from inspiring English sources
A pragmatic utopian, however, can negotiate his way to an architectural novelty — a bike path to a roof, say — and that novelty may have a virtuous influence on future buildings and lives.
Unlike the petty person (xiaoren; literally, "little person"), who cannot transcend personal concerns and prejudices and acts only for his own gain, the junzi is cultured (wen) and knows how to act and speak appropriately in any situation; he is thus an exemplar whose virtuous influence promotes a flourishing human community (see de).
The Daodejing, a philosophical and spiritual text composed about 300 bce and attributed in subsequent centuries to the mythical sage Laozi, maintains that de is a kind of virtuous power of influence, but on a grander, superhuman level.
In the Analects, this view is associated especially with the influence a virtuous ruler has over his subjects' characters; in the Mencius, it most likely also reflects that text's optimism about human nature.
Here, Christian influence redeems the evil stepsisters, who prostrate themselves before the virtuous heroine and are forgiven.
Although the ancients did write prose fiction (invariably featuring passionate but virtuous lovers being put through a succession of ordeals), the classical genre with the biggest influence on the modern novel has been that of history.
