A treasured sword will never grow old

A husband’s ambition is to make him strong when he is poor, and strong when he is old.

Explanation Although Xingke is older, his ambition is more heroic.

Story Ma Yuan, a famous general in the Eastern Han Dynasty, had great ambitions since he was a child. He planned to go to the frontier to develop animal husbandry. When Ma Yuan grew up, he became the postal supervisor of Fufeng County. Once, the prefect of the county sent him to send prisoners to Chang'an. On the way, he felt that the prisoner was pitiful and could not bear to send him to be tortured, so he let him go. He had no choice but to lose his official position and flee to Beichao County to hide. This happened to coincide with the general amnesty, and past matters were no longer pursued. So he started animal husbandry and agricultural production with peace of mind. Within a few years, Ma Yuan became a large livestock owner and landowner. He has thousands of cattle and sheep, and tens of thousands of dan of grain. However, he was not satisfied with the wealthy life. He distributed all the property, cattle and sheep he had accumulated to his brothers and friends. He said: "It is too boring for a person to be a miser." He often said to his friends: "To be a man, you must always be strong when you are poor, and strong when you are old." That is to say, the poorer you are, the firmer your ambitions must be; the older you are, the stronger your ambitions must be. Later, Ma Yuan became a famous general in the Eastern Han Dynasty and made many military exploits for Emperor Guangwu.

Source: "Book of the Later Han·Biography of Ma Yuan"