1. Don’t give in for five buckets of rice

Tao Yuanming, the great poet of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, once served as Pengze (now Hukou County, Jiangxi). At the end of the year, the county governor sent a supervisor to inspect the county. The county officials told Tao Yuanming that according to official etiquette, he should neatly wear his crown and tighten his belt, as shown by the following etiquette for subordinates. Tao Yuanming was used to being casual and not following common etiquette in everything, not to mention having high aspirations and ambitions, so he sighed: "How can I bow down to a village boy for five buckets of rice?" He resigned and returned to his official position that day, and he will not be an official again.

2. The self-respecting Shevchenko

Shevchenko is a famous Russian poet. His poems express his love for his hometown and his resistance to the Tsar.

One day, the Tsar summoned him. All the civil and military officials and envoys bowed to the Tsar. Only Shevchenko stood aside solemnly. The Tsar was furious and asked: "Why don't you bend down and bow?" Shevchenko replied calmly: No. I want to see you, but you want to see me. If I bend down deeply in front of you like these people around me, how can you see me clearly? ”

3. Yan Ying refused to be rewarded

In the Spring and Autumn Period, Yan Ying, the Prime Minister of Qi State, was very talented and was highly appreciated by the monarch. Although he was a high-ranking and powerful person, he did not care about ostentation. He lived a simple life. Qi Jinggong saw that his house was small, low-lying and noisy, so he wanted to change it to a better house. Yan Ying said, this is the place where my father lived. It was too much, how could he get a new house?

Qi Jinggong saw that he could not be persuaded, so he took advantage of the opportunity of his mission to Lu to expand his house. After Yan Ying returned home, he learned about it. He stopped at the outskirts of the city and refused to go home until Qi Jinggong promised to restore the neighboring houses and return them to their original appearance.

Qi Jinggong sent someone to bring him beautiful carriages and horses, but Yan Ying refused, so he refused. Said: "I scrimp on food and clothing to set an example for the people, so as to prevent extravagance from prevailing. If our rulers and ministers all have fine clothes and fine horses, the common people will follow suit and pursue pleasure away from pleasure, leading to bad conduct. It will be difficult to ban it then. So I cannot accept your reward.

4. Xu Beihong’s heroic words

At the beginning of the 20th century, when Xu Beihong was studying in Europe, he encountered provocation from a foreigner. The foreigner said: "The Chinese people are ignorant and are born to be slaves. Even if they are sent to heaven for further study, they will not become talented!"

Xu Beihong replied angrily: "Well, I represent my motherland. , you represent your country, and when you graduate, you will see who is the talent and who is the idiot!" A year later, Xu Beihong's oil paintings were well received by French artists. After that, he won the first place in several competitions. The personal exhibition caused a sensation in the entire Paris art world. Such an amazing achievement is far beyond the reach of that foreigner.

5. Wen Tianxiang

In 1278 AD (the first year of Song Xiangxing), Wen Tianxiang was defeated and captured at Wupoling in the north of Haifeng, Guangdong. He was taken to a ship and crossed the Lingding Ocean the following year. Write this poem. Later, he was escorted to Yashan. Zhang Hongfan forced him to write a letter to recruit Zhang Shijie, Lu Xiufu and others who were sticking to Yashan to surrender. Wen Tianxiang refused and produced "Crossing the Lingding Ocean" to clarify his ambition.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Self-esteem

Baidu Encyclopedia - Wen Tianxiang

Baidu Encyclopedia - Xu Beihong