Historical data show that Cao Cao's original words are "it is better to be negative than to teach others to be negative", which means that in an environment where honesty is not emphasized, people should not be credulous or too honest to avoid being deceived.
Extended data:
This sentence can best highlight his ambition. He can be wrong, but his subordinates cannot be wrong. As the two-part allegorical saying goes, Cao Cao killed Lv Boshe-he was wrong when he was wrong. In order to seize the world, relying on the emperor as a vassal is the embodiment of Meng De's great talent. He is in no hurry to achieve success, knows how to hide his strength and look forward to it. However, a wise man's efforts will fail, and his suspicious heart is not the reason for his defeat.
This sentence first appeared in Miscellaneous Notes: Mao heard the sound of his food container and thought he was trying to save himself, so he killed it at night. Then he said sadly, "I'd rather be negative than negative!" " Go ahead.
Someone once understood it as "I am sorry for others, and others are not sorry for me?" But this understanding does not conform to the characteristics of ancient Chinese. There are modal particles or object-predicate flashbacks in rhetorical questions in ancient Chinese, but this language obviously does not.
For the understanding of this sentence, you can also refer to the thirty-fourth chapter of Ceng Pu's novel "Evil Sea Flower" in the Qing Dynasty: "Don't pull me, I would rather bear it. Today I want to learn from Cao Mengde! " Understand.
Sohu. Com- "I would rather lose the world than the world lose me."
Baidu Encyclopedia-Better negative than negative.