Things are born to be different.
This is a line in The Book of Mencius, which states an objective law that "things are born to be different." The idea respects the differences among things and reminds people to regard differences not as aliens, but as a kind of supplement to offset one's shortcomings.
Xi Jinping uses this saying on many occasions to explain the relationships between countries and civilizations. In his written answers to the questions of The Wall Street Journal in September 2015, he quoted Mencius again and pointed out: With so much difference in ethnicity, history, culture, religion, social system, development level and lifestyle, there are things about others that one may find hard to understand. This is for sure, but that said, it is also true that anything that is seemingly incomprehensible can be understood provided that one is ready to learn and make an effort to understand it instead of dismissing it altogether.
物之不齐，物之情也
“物之不齐，物之情也”，出自《孟子》，意为物品千差万别，这是客观情况和自然规律。这一理念强调事物的差异性，告诉人们不必把差别看作异类，而应将差异作为自己取长补短的补充。
习近平在论述国与国之间、不同文明之间的关系时，多次引用“物之不齐，物之情也”这句古语。2015年9月，习近平接受美国《华尔街日报》采访时引用这一古语，指出既然世界上存在着不同的民族、历史、文化、宗教、制度、发展水平、生活方式，那就肯定会存在一些相互之间不那么好理解的事情。但是，一切看上去不可理解的事情都是可以理解的，关键是要有去理解的意愿与行动，而不是彼此排斥、无法兼容。