The essence of reading is not to read a few books, but to understand how many books you have read. Only by concentrating on something and not half-heartedly and distractedly can one thing be done well.

In reading, you want to be refined but not knowledgeable, and you want to be focused but not miscellaneous. It comes from the Song Dynasty author Huang Tingjian.

Famous aphorisms that inspire and guide reading at all times and at home and abroad:

There is a road to the mountain of books and diligence is the path, and there is no limit to the sea of ??learning - Jiang Zirong;

Career is accomplished by hard work, but wasteful by play; success is achieved by thinking, and destroyed by casualness. ——Han Yu;

Learning without thinking is a waste, and thinking without learning is peril. --Confucius.

Extended information:

Poetry written by Huang Tingjian:

1. Pay attention to the use of words. When using words, "Every word must have its origin." People at that time commented on Huang Tingjian's poems that "every word and every line must be tempered month by month and seasonally, and it will never be done lightly."

Huang Tingjian also proposed the "eye in the sentence" of poetry. The so-called "eye in the sentence" is what later generations call the "eye in poetry", which means focusing on the refinement of key words, such as "The spring breeze is green in the south of the Yangtze River" The word "green" in "shore" is derived from tempering, which can be said to be "putting a word is like the key to close a door".

2. Pay attention to syntax. Huang Tingjian's poem "Send Off Gu Zidun to Hedong": "No one knows the syntax, the autumn moon rises from the Chengjiang River". What is "syntax"? It can be seen from this poem that the syntax of Huang Tingjian's poems is still simple, like the autumn moon clearing the river, clear and perceptible

3. Pay attention to composition. Huang Tingjian made a lot of remarks on the meaning of chapter law and destiny, such as: "If you want to write the Songs of Chu to match the ancients, you must read the "Chu Songs" well, observe the twists and turns of the ancients' intentions in teaching, and then start writing. For example, if you want to write "Qiao Nu embroiders a wonderful life" Brocade, you must get the brocade machine to make brocade." The composition structure is likened to the "brocade machine".

Although Huang Tingjian talked about poetic methods, he did not stick to them. Instead, he demanded to eventually transcend poetic methods and achieve the state of "not bothering with the cutting of ropes but self-integration".

Baidu Encyclopedia—Huang Tingjian