Zeng Guofan's famous sayings

1. The mediocre people in the world, both ancient and modern, are all defeated by the word laziness; the talents in the world, ancient and modern, are all defeated by the word arrogance.

2. When scholars study, they must first be ambitious, secondly knowledgeable, and thirdly perseverant. If you have ambition, you will never be willing to be humble. If you have knowledge, you know that knowledge is endless, and you dare not be satisfied with just one thing. You are like a river boy looking at the sea, or a well frog looking at the sky, both of which have no knowledge. With perseverance, nothing can be accomplished. All three are indispensable.

3. No love in the past, no love in the present, no welcome in the future.

4. The sky shines on the sea and there are countless flowers, and the flowing water and the high mountains are self-aware.

5. When ordinary people do something, they must concentrate on it with all their concentration, without any change in thoughts. People have no permanence and achieve nothing throughout their lives.

6. Those who are too impatient will not have a sense of perseverance, those who are too fearful will not have outstanding views, those who are too lustful will not have generosity, those who talk too much will not have a sincere heart, and those who are too brave will not have a sincere heart. Literary elegance.

7. Only the most sincerity in the world can defeat the most false in the world; only the most clumsy in the world can defeat the most skillful in the world.

8. A person who likes reading will not have bad character; a person with good character will not have bad luck in life.

9. Four ways to look at people: be trustworthy, non-bureaucratic, organized, and less talkative.

10. Be determined, work hard, and work hard. No matter how big or small, you will succeed.

11. Light wealth is enough to gather people, self-indulgence is enough to convince others, magnanimity is enough to win people, and being proactive is enough to lead people.

12. Trying to do things with suspicious people will never work out. If you do things with beneficial people, you will suffer.

13. The sky can be mended, the sea can be filled, and the Nanshan Mountains can be moved. The sun and the moon have passed and cannot be traced back.

14 If it is too soft, it will be weak; if it is too hard, it will break; hardness comes from softness, and softness can overcome hardness.

15. A diligent family will be prosperous, a diligent person will be thrifty, and he will never be poor.

16. Don’t do things that are of short-term benefit, and don’t go to areas where everyone is fighting

17. Don’t abandon people for their great beauty with small evils, and don’t forget people’s great kindness with small grudges;

18. Talking about other people's shortcomings is to protect one's own shortcomings, and praising one's own strengths is to avoid others' strengths;

19. Benefits can be exploited but not alone, and planning can only be done by a few but not by many;

20. Hundreds of ills all arise from laziness. Laziness leads to slackness, slackness leads to lax treatment, and lack of sensitivity in interest and function. If one place is late, hundreds of places will be slack.

21. To achieve great things, knowledge is the main factor and talent is the supplement. Man’s plan is half of it and God’s will is half of it.

22. If you are not a sage, you will be a beast; you don’t care about harvest, but about hard work.

23. Youth cannot endure good times, middle age cannot endure leisure, and old age cannot endure adversity.

24. If you have a broad mind, you should learn from the two words "flat" and "light". We must be flat when we are ordinary people, and we must be light when it comes to fame. The common people's minds will be broad day by day.

25. There are things that can be done in life, and there are also things that cannot be done. If you can do something, you should try your best to do it. This is called doing your best. If you can't do something, you should do it with all your heart. This is called knowing your destiny.

26. The way of heaven prohibits cleverness, retreat without fighting, and seek without tricks.

27. If you treat your relatives with love for your wife, you will never be unfilial. If you blame yourself with the same intention of blaming others, you will make few mistakes. If you forgive others with the same heart that you forgive yourself, then you will be friends with everyone.

28. Wherever one's ambition is, metal and stone will open, who can control it?

29. Think big, start small, keep your mouth shut when in groups, keep your heart when alone

30. You can’t stand poverty, you can’t stand up, you can’t stand humiliation, you can’t do anything.

31. The heroes who started a business and reunified the country in prosperous times took open-mindedness as their first priority; the heroes who helped people in danger and rescued people in the last days took hard work as their first priority.