Confucius:

1. "If a person has no perseverance, he cannot be a witch doctor" ("Zilu")

Translation: If a person does not have perseverance, he will not be a witch doctor. Unable to achieve a career.

2. "It's like a mountain. If I stop before I reach a barrier, I will stop. It's like a flat land. Even if I cover a barrier, I will move forward." ("Zihan").

Translation: It’s like piling soil into a mountain. Just add another basket of soil and it will become a mountain. If I am too lazy to continue, I will stop myself. It's like piling up a mountain of dirt on flat ground. Even if you just dumped a basket of dirt, if you are determined to move forward, you still have to persevere.

Mencius:

Shun was raised in the countryside, Fu Shuo was raised in the building, Jiao Ge was raised in the fish and salt, Guan Yi was raised in the army, Sun Shu'ao was raised in the army. In the sea, Baili Xiju in the city.

Therefore, when Heaven is about to entrust this person with a great responsibility, he must first strain his mind, strain his muscles and bones, starve his body and skin, deplete his body, and mess up his actions. What it cannot do.

People always make mistakes, and then they can change; trapped in the heart, balanced by considerations, and then act; marked by color, produced by sound, and then metaphor. If you enter, you will be unable to control the people at home, if you leave, you will be invincible to foreign patients, and the country will be permanently destroyed.

Then you realize that you are born from sorrow and die from happiness.

Translation:

Shun was appointed from the fields, Fu Yue was appointed from the work of building walls, Jiao Ke was appointed from the fish and salt trade, Guan Yiwu was appointed from Sun Shuao was rescued from the hands of prison officials and appointed. Sun Shuao was appointed from a seclusion on the seaside. Baili Xi was redeemed from the slave market and appointed.

So when God wants to place a heavy responsibility on this person, he must first make his mind distressed, make his muscles and bones tired, make him suffer from hunger, make him suffer from poverty, and make him do what he has done. Things are turned upside down and confused to shock his heart, toughen his temper, and increase his abilities that he does not have before.

A person often makes mistakes so that he can correct them later; he is confused in his heart and blocked by thoughts. Only then can you know what to do; others' anger is expressed in their faces, and their resentment is expressed in their words, and only then can it be known to others.

(If) a country does not have ministers who adhere to the law and wise men who can assist the king at home, and there are no countries with comparable strength and ability to compete and disasters from abroad, such a country will often go to war. perish.

Only in this way can we understand that worrying about disasters can make people (or countries) survive and develop, while ease and enjoyment can make people (or countries) perish.

Extended information:

Characteristics of "The Analects"

The main characteristics of "The Analects" are concise language, far-reaching meaning, and a kind of grace, gentleness, and subtlety. style. There is also the presentation of characters in simple dialogues and actions. At the same time, the language is easy to understand and close to spoken language, which is also a feature.

Rhetorical Characteristics of "Mencius"

"Mencius" makes good use of parallel sentences, often using a series of sentence patterns with the same structure to explain the same topic from multiple angles and levels, like a thousand The flow is thousands of gullies, all at once, forming an unstoppable momentum that surges thousands of miles. Mencius' writings are known as eloquent, and the use of this type of sentence structure is a very important reason.

"Born in sorrow, died in happiness", in conjunction with the inductive reasoning method, uses this sentence structure, citing the successful deeds of six sages in succession, making people feel that "born in sorrow" It is indeed a common phenomenon; then the hardships of arranging the environment reflect the difficulty of the sages; then they describe the correct attitudes and handling methods of the sages, and finally draw the conclusion that "born in sorrow, die in happiness", which is very convincing.

Generally speaking, the writing method of presentation and parallelism can certainly create a grand momentum; if not handled properly, it can also lead to complexity and procrastination. Later Han Dynasty Fu, due to one-sided emphasis on this feature, often makes it difficult to read. Although Mencius' article uses parallelism throughout, it still gives people the impression of simplicity.

Baidu Encyclopedia - "Born in sorrow, died in happiness"

Baidu Encyclopedia - "The Analects of Confucius"