Zeng Guofan’s famous family motto is as follows:

1. If you blame God for no reason, God will not allow it; if you blame others for no reason, people will not accept it.

2. Saving trouble is the way to clear your mind, and reading is the way to save trouble.

3. If you are cautious and fearful, you will never forget hell even when you are alive; if you are magnanimous, you will have peace of mind despite adversity.

4. To live a life without seeking wealth, to study without seeking an official position, to cultivate virtue without seeking reward, and to write without seeking biography is like drinking wine without getting drunk, being intoxicated and having more than enough joy, which contains endless meanings and cannot be discerned. Forget words.

5. Pay attention to both principles and art; behave carefully and be square on the inside and round on the outside.

6. With perseverance, gold and stone can be carved; if you want to achieve a little success, start with perseverance.

7. Wealth and fame are all glories in this world, but having a big heart is the real benefit.

8. Good people cultivate virtue and bring good fortune to heaven. Evil people sow disaster and bring disaster later.

9. The way to build a body is to be strong on the inside and soft on the outside; If there is no harmony, we cannot accept things, and if we are not strict, we cannot control them.

10. Those who are good at observing others observe themselves, and those who are good at observing themselves observe their hearts.

11. A person of small benevolence is a thief of great benevolence.

12. Stimulate the turbid and promote the clear, strictly reward and punish; pay equal attention to kindness and power, cure diseases and save people.

13. If you treat your relatives with love for your wife, you will never be unfilial. If you blame yourself with the same intention of blaming others, you will make few mistakes. If you forgive others with the same heart that you forgive yourself, then you will be friends with everyone.

14. Showing respect and showing respect is fake. To love in hiding is to be private.

15. When traveling independently, you should not follow the popular customs, but you must not tolerate resentment. There is no need to avoid minor suspicions in matters of high righteousness, but we must not ignore them if they are tiring.

16. Only gentleness can control the fierce spirit, only sincerity can change the stubborn people.

17. Have insight into the situation and see through the secrets; have profound foresight and foresight, and be surprisingly changeable.

18. There is a clear air between the eyebrows, and the aspirations are not mediocre. You may achieve success in the future.

19. I see that the children of poor families in the countryside are more likely to grow up the more they are looked down upon, while the children of rich families are more likely to grow up to be useful as they are looked at as spoiled.

20. If you cannot endure poverty, you cannot establish yourself; if you cannot endure humiliation, you cannot do anything.