Zuo Zongtang’s golden words: Make high-level wishes and make middle-level connections to enjoy low-level blessings

He was a famous general in the late Qing Dynasty. He experienced important events such as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the recovery of Xinjiang, and the Westernization Movement in his life. Liang Qichao said that he was "the greatest man in five hundred years", and he was Zuo Zongtang.

Zuo Zongtang spent his military life. Although he became an official as a civil servant, he was rich in knowledge. He once said many classic words that are still of educational significance today.

1. Make high-level vows, make middle-level connections, and enjoy low-level blessings. Choose a high place to stand, sit on a flat place, and walk toward a wide place.

This is a couplet by Zuo Zongtang. Li Ka-shing liked this couplet very much and hung it in his office in Hong Kong.

"Make high aspirations, make moderate fate, and enjoy inferior blessings." It means that people should be ambitious, only seek middle fate, and live an ordinary life.

"Choose a high place to stand, sit on a flat place, and walk toward a wide place." It means that you should have a long-term perspective when looking at problems, be low-key in life, and leave room for things to do.

These two sentences also have guiding significance for ordinary people’s lives. Only when you have great ambitions can you have the motivation to move forward. The ancients said that if you have high ambitions, you will not have goals without ambitions, and you will not achieve anything if you just muddle along. Life is not perfect, it is normal to have some shortcomings. People should be content and know how to be tolerant.

2. A true man who can withstand hardship is a true man, but a man who is not envied by others is a mediocre man.

“When heaven is about to entrust a great responsibility to a person, he must first work his muscles and bones and starve his body and skin.” A person will always experience many hardships and setbacks in his life. Only by overcoming these hardships can he achieve true success. Mature.

Suffering and setbacks are an asset in life and a required course in life. Don't flinch in the face of difficulties, and have the spirit of becoming more courageous the more setbacks you have.

Different people will have different opinions from different standpoints. No matter what you do, it is impossible to satisfy everyone. In life, we often face a lot of gossip and criticism. As long as you do nothing wrong, you must stick to your position and do it with all your heart.

A person’s value does not rest on other people’s praise or criticism. Don’t care too much about other people’s words, just live your best.

3. Don’t make money with those who like cheap things; don’t do anything with those who are suspicious.

It will be unpleasant to have money dealings with people who are greedy for petty gains, and cooperation with suspicious people will not be achieved.

We often say that many friends lead to many paths. It is true that people should make friends, but there are many kinds of friends, so you should be more selective in the process of making friends.

"In the midst of hemp, it becomes straight without support; when the white sand is in nirvana, it becomes black with it." We are always subtly influenced by the people around us, so it is very important to choose a clean circle of friends.

4. Don’t be bullied when you are in poverty; don’t be envied by others when you are prosperous.

People should maintain their personal dignity in adversity, while in good times they should keep a low profile and be lenient towards others.

You must have a bottom line as a human being, and you must not lose your principles for the pursuit of material desires. Mencius said that "poor and lowly cannot be moved, and power cannot be surrendered." Even if you are in trouble, you must maintain your due personality strength.

The attitude towards those who are inferior to yourself can best reflect a person’s cultivation and character. Don't condescendingly judge people who are not as good as you in some way. Know that everyone has strengths and weaknesses.

5. Reading unseen books is like finding a good friend; reading unseen books is like meeting an old friend.

Reading is to make friends with the writer. In the process of reading, in addition to increasing knowledge, it can also improve people's thinking ability. Read it a hundred times and its meaning will become apparent.

Reading is enough for pleasure, enough for enrichment, and enough for growth. Reading has a significance that cannot be ignored in shaping our outlook on life, values, and worldview.

6. Being too frugal in one's own service and being too generous in treating others. Everything should be kept simple and economical, and nothing should be wasted. This way of cherishing blessings is also the way of protecting the family.

I would rather be frugal in my own living expenses; I would rather be generous in treating others. Everything should start from simplicity and saving, and absolutely nothing should be wasted. This is a way to cherish your blessings and keep your family fortune intact.

Frugality is the way to cultivate yourself and run your home. Zuo Zongtang believed that "only by advocating frugality can we benefit widely." Not only did he live frugally, he also strictly required his children to be thrifty and not extravagant and wasteful in their lives.

If a person is not frugal, he will not be successful, and if a family is not frugal, he will not be prosperous.

With the affluence of material life, extravagant and wasteful phenomena such as "face consumption" and "conspicuous consumption" abound in life. This consumption concept not only causes a waste of resources, but also makes people lose themselves in the extravagance and lose their ambition to make progress. ?

7. When dealing with others, you must learn to suffer losses. As the saying goes: give in for life without losing a moment.

This is a sentence from Zuo Zongtang in "Reply to Zhang Langzhai's Proposal to Raise the Army".

No one wants to suffer and be wronged, but life will always make you feel wronged. The valuable thing about being a human being is that you are willing to suffer losses. "Cai Gen Tan" says, "When things go wrong in the world, it is a blessing; when people are weak, things grow." If you suffer a little loss first, you will be rewarded later.

When doing things with others, you can often solve difficult problems by taking the initiative to suffer some losses. If two people are at odds with each other, neither one is willing to suffer, and cooperation will naturally not be possible.

Suffering losses is a kind of hidden investment. In relationships, people who want to take advantage of everything will become lonely sooner or later. Only by suffering some losses at the right time can they get more returns.

8. Be careful in socializing and study diligently; stay true to your roots and get rid of the glitz.

To become a person of good character, you must do these things. Be cautious in making friends and be practical in your studies.

Be a down-to-earth person and don’t be opportunistic. If you are too ambitious and do things with impetuous emotions, you will only end up in a mess. Only by starting from small things bit by bit and abandoning the impetuous mentality can we continuously improve our abilities in basic work and accumulate strength for future development.

There is no overnight success in the world. The road to success is taken step by step. Without hard work, no matter how many noble people or good opportunities you meet, you will not succeed.