The original sentence is: Reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles; traveling thousands of miles is not as good as reading countless people; reading countless people is not as good as showing the way by a famous teacher, and being guided by a famous teacher is not as good as enlightening yourself.
Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. The original saying is reading ten thousand books is worse than traveling ten thousand miles.
The source is Dong Qichang's "Painting Purpose", which contains "Six Methods for Painters, One is 'Vivid Qi Yun'. 'Qi Yun' cannot be learned. It is known in this life, and it is naturally given by God. However, there is also a way to learn it, reading thousands of volumes The book travels thousands of miles, and the dust in the chest is removed. The natural hills and valleys are set up in the inner camp, and the mountains and rivers are written down casually. "
Wanjuan originally refers to: the emperor's examination paper, read Wanjuan. Juan Shu means: studying in order to go to Beijing to take the exam and get a title on the gold list. Traveling thousands of miles means: Entering the official career and serving the emperor.
The current explanation is: Read ten thousand books: it means to study hard and make your talents better than others. Traveling thousands of miles: means to let what you have learned be reflected in your life, and at the same time increase your knowledge, that is, combine theory with practice and apply what you have learned.
Extended information:
The meaning of this sentence:
Traveling thousands of miles and reading are complementary. Reading is static, traveling is dynamic, and reading is The knowledge in Chinese is limited, and only the eyes, ears and knowledge of traveling can make up for its shortcomings.
1. Traveling
"Traveling" is understood to mean learning in practice. Human evolution begins with walking. From the trees to the ground, the first thing to learn is to walk. The purpose of walking is to get more food and find a safe place to rest. It also broadens our horizons and learns a lot of useful knowledge.
Dayu realized the flood control principle of "it is better to dredge and not to block" while working with his father to control floods. Confucius attached great importance to the role of practice in learning, and confirmed what he learned by traveling around the country to govern the country. Li Shizhen, Xu Xiake, Marco Polo, Darwin, and Columbus all wrote magnificent works or made major discoveries by "traveling". It can be seen that "traveling thousands of miles" is much more important than "reading thousands of books".
Use an analogy to the relationship between "reading" and "traveling": "Reading thousands of books" is like seeing the golden mountain of knowledge and ability through a window. But if you want to truly get the golden mountain of knowledge and ability, It also depends on getting out of the door and “traveling thousands of miles”.
2. Reading
After "reading thousands of books", only by "traveling thousands of miles", going out to see for yourself and experiencing the scenes described in the book, will you discover the book. What is said in the book is less than one thousandth of the experience. At the same time, you can also understand the author's feelings about this situation and compare it with your own feelings, thereby enlarging the level of knowledge. Only then can the effect of reading be reflected.
So: Reading is like a magnifying glass. No matter whether the knowledge you read is "true" or "false", it will magnify several times (of course, the more you read, the greater the magnification).
It also refers to a person who reads a lot and travels a lot.
Reference: Read thousands of books and travel thousands of miles? Baidu Encyclopedia