1. Original text

If you use copper as a mirror, you can straighten your clothes; if you use history as a mirror, you can know the ups and downs; if you use people as a mirror, you can know gains and losses. I always keep these three mirrors to prevent myself from making mistakes. Today, Wei Zheng passed away, and then one mirror died!

2. Translation

If a person uses copper as a mirror, he can see whether his clothes and hats are well-dressed; if he uses history as a mirror, he can know the reasons for the rise and fall of a country; if he uses people as a mirror , you can discover your own rights and wrongs. Once Wei Zheng died, I lost a good mirror.

3. Source

Extended information on "Old Tang Book·Biography of Wei Zheng"

1. Creation background

Wei Zheng passed away, and Tang Dynasty Taizong cried very sadly. He said: I have three mirrors (they used to be bronze mirrors). "Using copper as a mirror, you can straighten your clothes and hats" and wear his clothes and hats; "Use history as a mirror" to use By observing one's own governance through history, one can "know the ups and downs." He can know what to do to make a dynasty prosper and what to do to cause a dynasty to fail.

"Take a person as a mirror" and use a virtuous minister to advise him, "you can understand the gains and losses", you can understand the gains and losses of all his policies, and then make corrections. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty said that he had these three mirrors. When Wei Zheng died, one of them was broken.

2. Meaning

You should always use others as examples to face up to your own mistakes and correct them.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Looking at people as mirrors can reveal gains and losses