Confucius said: "When you see a virtuous person, think about it; when you see a virtuous person, you have to reflect on yourself."

——"The Analects of Confucius·Li Ren"

Confucius said: "When you see a wise person, you should learn from him and emulate him; when you see an unworthy person, you should reflect on yourself to see if you have made similar mistakes to him."

Additional information:

If you use copper as a mirror, you can straighten your clothes; if you use ancient times as a mirror, you can know the ups and downs; if you use people as a mirror, you can know gains and losses.

——"The Biography of Wei Zheng in the Old Book of Tang Dynasty"

Using copper as a mirror, you can see whether your clothes are neat and tidy; using ancient times as a mirror, you can see what you are doing. Whether it is in line with history and the development of society, you can know your own gains and losses by looking at people as a mirror.

(1) Therefore, Mozi said: "There is an ancient saying: A gentleman does not mirror water. And the mirror is in the water, and the face of the person is known; the mirror is in the person, and it is good and bad. Now it is advantageous to attack, so what is it about Zhibo? You can get it and know it."

——"Mozi Fei Gongzhong"

(2) The reason why a bright mirror can discern shapes is that Yan Chi just saw it outside. ; The past is the reason why one examines one's mind, and if there is good or evil, he will reflect on it.

—— Zhang Jiuling of the Tang Dynasty, "Golden Mirror Records of the Qianqiu Festival"

Jian: photo. Yan (yányan) Gu (chī eat): beautiful and ugly. Province (xǐng wake): to observe. The general idea of ??these sentences is: the mirror is used to reflect the human body, and beauty and ugliness can be displayed on the outside; the past is used to reflect the human heart, and good and evil can be reflected deep in the heart. ~ Talk about the importance of learning from others.

People learn from the mirror to understand their own appearance, stay fit, and correct their ugly appearance; people also need to learn from history to examine and reflect on themselves, so as to preserve good and eliminate evil, and become a perfect person. However, people often attach importance to learning from the mirror, but do not pay attention to learning from history. This is a manifestation of people paying attention to phenomena and not paying attention to essence. This illustrates the importance of learning from history.

(3). A mirror cannot illuminate itself, a ruler cannot measure itself, and power cannot claim to be self-reliant. It is limited by things. The sage takes care of himself, and becomes a guide, ruler, and authority, and then he can judge the beauty, length, and weight.

——Ming Lu Kun's "Moaning Yuguan Yu"

A mirror cannot reflect its own shape, a ruler cannot reflect its own length, and a scale cannot weigh itself. Serving sizes, this is due to the fact that they are limited to the scope of the item. The sage can reflect his own gains and losses, measure his own length and weight, and become his own mirror, ruler and scale. Only then can he distinguish beauty and ugliness, length and breadth, and weigh the weight of all things in the world.

(4). People can be used as mirrors to learn good and bad things. A small river can capsize a boat without looking at it. If the mirror is not in the water, but in the mirror of people, it can be a good or bad thing. If you don’t step on the mountain, you can step on it. If it is small, it should be guarded against.

——Wang Yongbin's "Night Talk Around the Fireplace"

(5). When a person faces the outside world, what he needs is a window; when a person faces himself, he needs a window. It's a mirror. When facing the outside world, you can use a window to see the brightness of the world; when facing yourself, you can use a mirror to see your own flaws.

——Lin Qingxuan "Window and Mirror"