Ten of the most classic family mottos of Zeng Guofan are as follows:

1. Books, vegetables, fish and pigs are the vitality of a family; sleeping less and doing more are the vitality of one person.

2. My grandfather also regarded cowardice as a great shame when he taught others. Therefore, in order for a man to stand on his own feet, he must be stubborn.

3. Following two things will lead to a lifetime of mistakes. Encouraging the spirit can overcome this shortcoming.

4. Mortal people are not fond of leisure and hate work. Regardless of whether they are noble or low, wise, stupid, old or young, they are all greedy for leisure and afraid of work. This is the same in ancient and modern times.

5. He who can be trusted by the whole world is ultimately a gentleman. Those who are suspicious of the whole world will end up being villains.

6. Trying to do things with suspicious people will not work out. If you do things with beneficial people, you will suffer.

7. If you are not harmonious, you cannot accept things, and if you are not strict, you cannot control them.

8. Fame, official title, wealth, sound and sex are all called desires, and they can all lead to death.

9. Those who do big things should choose multiple substitutes as the first priority. The satisfactory choice is not available, and the second choice is to wait for gradual education.

10. What makes a gentleman inferior to others is that he has a wise eye and knows people well.

Introduction to Zeng Guofan

Zeng Guoquan was born in Baiyangping, Xiangxiang, Hunan in the fourth year of Daoguang reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Qing Dynasty (1824). He is now a native of Shuangfeng, Hunan. Among the five Zeng brothers, Zeng Guoquan ranked fourth, thirteen years younger than his eldest brother Zeng Guofan. When Zeng Guoquan was sixteen years old, he followed his father to the capital and studied under Zeng Guofan. He was highly praised by his brother Nai. In the 22nd year of Daoguang reign, Zeng Guoquan left the capital and returned to his hometown. Zeng Guofan sent him to Lugou Bridge and bid him farewell with a poem. He wrote: Chen Junping, Wu Junqi, Quzhi Lao Yuan has really white eyebrows.

Zeng Guoquan was good at calligraphy, and his regular script followed the Yan family's rules. His brother Zeng Guofan once loved Zeng Guoquan's regular script and couldn't bear to let it go, and admitted that his regular script was not as good as his brother Yuan's. Ma Zonghuo, a recent scholar, commented in "Xiao Yue Lou Bi Tan": Zhong Xiang was dedicated to speeding up updates, his wrist was free and his pen was solid, and he had the beauty of sparseness and density in his squareness. Although his calligraphy was not as good as Wen Zheng, his calligraphy talent may be said to be above it. There are many calligraphy handed down from ancient times, mostly in regular script, which are strict, straight, vigorous and powerful, and have the charm of stele calligraphy.