The famous aphorisms related to reading are as follows:

This article focuses on the theme of reading and learning, and selects three small ancient articles about reading by ancient people, focusing on reading attitudes, reading methods, and reading needs. We will discuss the conditions and other aspects to inspire us to develop good reading habits, love reading, and be good at reading.

Zeng Guofan's article

Original text: When Gaishi people study, they must first be ambitious, secondly knowledgeable, and thirdly perseverant. If you have ambition, you will never be willing to be inferior; if you have knowledge, you will know that knowledge is endless, and you will not dare to be self-sufficient in one thing. You are like a riverboy looking at the sea, like a frog in a well peering into the sky. They are all ignorant; if you have perseverance, you will never be able to accomplish anything. All three are indispensable.

Translation:

When scholars study, they must first have ambition, secondly have knowledge, and thirdly have perseverance. If you are ambitious, you will not be willing to be inferior; if you are knowledgeable, you will know that there is no end to learning, and you will not dare to be self-satisfied with a little experience. Like a river boy looking at the sea, or a frog at the bottom of a well looking at the sky, these are all without knowledge; if you have perseverance, you will definitely achieve anything. things. Ambition, knowledge, and perseverance are all indispensable.

Extended information

Zeng Guofan's chapter is selected from "The Complete Works of Zeng Wenzhenggong".

Zeng Guofan, a politician, strategist, Neo-Confucian, writer, calligrapher, founder and commander of the Hunan Army in the late Qing Dynasty. Zeng Guofan was born in an ordinary farming and studying family. He was diligent and studious since he was a child, and entered a private school at the age of 6. At the age of 8, he can read the Four Books and recite the Five Classics. At the age of 14, he can read the selected works of "Zhou Rites" and "Historical Records".

During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, Zeng Guofan formed the Hunan Army to turn the tide, and after many years of fierce fighting, he attacked and destroyed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Throughout his life, he devoted his life to politics and regarded patience as the first priority. He advocated being diligent, thrifty and honest in everything he did and not being arrogant as an official. He cultivated himself and disciplined himself, sought an official position based on virtue, put etiquette first, and pursued politics with loyalty, and achieved great success in the officialdom.

The rise of Zeng Guofan had a profound impact on the politics, military, culture, economy and other aspects of the Qing Dynasty. Under Zeng Guofan's initiative, China's first ship was built, the first military engineering school was established, the first batch of Western books were printed and translated, and the first batch of students studying in the United States were arranged. It can be said that Zeng Guofan was the pioneer of China's modernization construction.

Zeng Guofan, together with Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang and Zhang Zhidong, are known as "the four famous ministers of the late Qing Dynasty and the Zhongxing Dynasty". He served as governor of Liangjiang, governor of Zhili, and bachelor of Wuyingdian. He was granted the title of first-class Yiyong Marquis, with the posthumous title "Wenzheng" and later generations called him "Zeng Wenzheng".