If you don’t accumulate steps, you can’t reach a thousand miles; if you don’t accumulate small streams, you can’t reach a river or sea. This famous quote is selected from " ". I can't find it in my Chinese language book, so I can only ask for help from everyone.

"If you don't accumulate small steps, you can't reach a thousand miles; if you don't accumulate small streams, you can't become a river." It means: If you don't accumulate one and a half steps, you can't reach a thousand miles; if you don't accumulate small steps, you can't reach a thousand miles. There is no way for the flowing water to merge into rivers and seas.

This sentence comes from "Encouraging Learning" by Xunzi, a thinker and writer during the Warring States Period. "Encouraging Learning" is the first chapter of "Xunzi". The article systematically discusses the theories and methods of learning, and comprehensively and profoundly discusses the issues related to learning from the aspects of the importance of learning, attitude towards learning, and the content and methods of learning.

The full text can be divided into four paragraphs. The first paragraph explains the importance of learning, the second paragraph talks about the correct attitude towards learning, the third paragraph talks about the content of learning, and the fourth paragraph talks about how learning should start and end well. The full text has in-depth reasoning and rigorous structure, representing the mature stage of pre-Qin essays.

Extended information:

1. Appreciation

A major feature of the writing of "Encouragement to Learning" is the use of metaphors to explain principles and prove arguments. Except for a few places where the truth is directly explained, the whole text is almost all metaphors. The article uses a large number of common metaphors in life to explain abstract principles clearly, concretely, vividly, and in simple terms, making it easy for readers to accept.

2. Introduction to the author

Xunzi (about 313 BC - 238 BC), whose name was Kuang, was respected as "Qing" by people at that time. In the Western Han Dynasty, he avoided the taboo of Liu Xun, Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty. , also known as Sun Qing, because the two characters "Xun" and "Sun" have the same ancient pronunciation. At the end of the Warring States Period, he was born in the Zhao Guoyi family (now Anze County, Shanxi Province) and was a representative figure of the late Pre-Qin Confucian period.