In ancient times, there are two types of bad words that lead to failure: those who are proud and those who talk too much. ——Zeng Guofan There are things in life that people are proud of, which are worthy of happiness. But pride is for others, not for yourself. Any one of your relatives and friends can be proud of the results of your actions, but only you can be proud, but not arrogant.

If you are arrogant throughout your life, you will become arrogant and domineering over time, which will naturally lead to disaster. Therefore, no matter what the occasion or period, you should always guard against arrogance. There are many factors that can lead to failure in life, and pride is one of them.

Pride and complacency can make people confused and make it difficult to make correct judgments about themselves. As a result, when challenges come, they set unrealistic goals and fail.

Zeng Guofan was well aware of the harmful effects of arrogance. He once said: "In ancient times, there are two ways in which bad words lead to failure: the day you grow proud, the day you talk too much. Throughout history, famous public officials and great ministers often use this reason. He was a prodigal and lost his life. For the rest of his life, he was quite stubborn and arrogant. He didn't talk much, and his writings were a bit close to litigation. Those who are arrogant do not necessarily insult people with words, but some do it with air. Those who have a bad complexion should not rely on their heart. If they rely on their appearance, it will be reflected in their appearance. In terms of family status, my material expectations will be greatly reduced, so I fear that I will be a burden to my children. In terms of talent, I will be in the army these days. He has trained many talented people, but none of them are superior to others, so they cannot be relied upon."

It can be seen that he believes that people should not be arrogant and talkative. Arrogance and talkativeness are two major mistakes in life. He has a great reputation because of the virtues accumulated by his ancestors. He has no reason to be arrogant and domineering. This is one of the reasons for the decline of the family. He pointed out that arrogance manifests itself in three aspects: speech, demeanor, and complexion. He earnestly warned his younger brothers to be modest. , especially for the younger generations who have not experienced hardships, "modesty" is an important part of Zeng's family education.

In addition, Zeng Guofan also believed that "you cannot enjoy all the blessings, and you cannot use all the power you have." The content of his "Don't make too much use of force" is "meddle more in other people's business, rarely judge right and wrong, and those who have no feelings are not afraid, and they will naturally last forever." He also likes the seven words of the ancients "the flowers are not fully blooming and the moon is not full", and believes that "the way to cherish blessings is not to be good at protecting peace." He advocates reduced power and a happy ending. He does not want his life to end well.

Zeng Guofan’s letter to his brothers in the 25th year of Daoguang’s reign (May 25, 1845) basically said: Always have a heart of awe, and don’t bully others just because someone in your family is an official; Don't be arrogant and arrogant just because you study.

Later, when he was in the army and busy with military affairs, he still wrote a letter to warn his brother Yuan, to the effect that: from ancient times to the present, the mediocre people in the world have failed to achieve anything because of laziness; Most people fail because of their pride.

Zeng Guofan’s thoughts on guarding against arrogance and impetuosity are reflected in almost every aspect of life.

In June 1863, Zeng Guoquan marched into Yuhuatai and achieved military exploits. However, Zeng Guofan asked his younger brother not to compete for this credit, saying: "It is not appropriate for me to write memorials, and there is no need to talk about it. See all writings. ." He told him not to express his merits, thinking that this was "the real skill of being modest."

Zeng’s lack of pride as an official is also related to tempering. In the reign of Daoguang, he was an official in Beijing. He was young, energetic, and sometimes arrogant. He "liked to enmity with those who were famous and powerful." In the early years of Xianfeng, he organized regiment training in Changsha, and often criticized others and made grudges with the governor and others. Deeply, in the fifth and sixth years of Xianfeng's reign, there were estrangements with local officials on the battlefield in Jiangxi. Xianfeng stayed at home in 78 years. After more than a year of introspection, he began to realize the reasons why he often had trouble doing things. He said in his own words: "In my recent years, I have been away from home, and the evil (i.e. hateful) people looked down on the officials with their eyes. Because of their stubborn nature, they gradually became jealous and unknowingly did many unforgivable things and said many unforgivable words. To this day, "I feel so ashamed."

From this, he further understood some of the ways to be an official: "The two disadvantages of being arrogant and talking too much are the reasons for the rise and fall of officials in the past and the recent disasters in the officialdom. , It is better not to regard these two as cardinals." Therefore, he encouraged himself to "just keep calm." Under the temper of officialdom, Zeng Guofan became increasingly mature. In his later years, his "modesty" and "kung fu" were truly remarkable. Not only was he very humble to his colleagues and subordinates, he also often bowed to those in power within his opponents.

Since he was actually appointed the Governor of Liangjiang and the Imperial Envoy in the 11th year of Xianfeng (1861), he has been in a high and prestigious position, but he has repeatedly submitted petitions to reduce his powers, or to request the court to send another minister. Jiang Nan assisted him.

His humility was out of sincerity, especially as his physical condition worsened later. He even believed that "it is a disgrace to an official to be unable to take care of matters." He repeatedly begged the court to reduce his official position. Make your own responsibilities smaller in order to preserve the evening festival.

Zeng Guofan had outstanding achievements in his life. It was because he was good at working on the word "light" that "fame and fortune are both light" and emphasized the art of humility and concession, and he was praised by some people as "the perfect man in ancient and modern times".

Zeng Guofan got rid of his arrogance in almost every aspect. Because he believes that "arrogance is a bad virtue, laziness is a bad virtue, and both are ways to ruin one's family... The best way to avoid arrogance is to walk more and sit in a sedan chair less." Not only was he very strict with himself, he was also very strict with his brothers and nephews.

At home, he has the idea of ??abstaining from arrogance.

On March 14, the eleventh year of Xianfeng (1861), he wrote to Chengdi, who was responsible for housework at home, asking him to strengthen the education of his children at home, and elaborated on several manifestations of pride:

Anyone who is afraid of others and dare not make rash remarks is a humble person; anyone who likes to ridicule others is a proud person... As the proverb goes: "Children of rich families are more arrogant, and children of noble families are more arrogant." He must be well-dressed and well-fed, and he can hit someone and then be called arrogant. However, if he is satisfied with his ambition and has no fear, and opens his mouth to discuss others' shortcomings, it is extremely arrogant and arrogant.

He said that his first priority is not to laugh at people easily. He sharply criticized Chengdi's pride, saying that he "ridiculed the "gentlemen" in the military camp for his shortcomings, and some of them ridiculed him two or three times." From this, it can be inferred that Chengdi was familiar with people in the countryside. , which is even more contemptuous! He believes that arrogance can be expressed in words, demeanor and facial expressions, so to be "humbly retreat", you must always check your words and deeds.

Zeng Guofan warned his children that they must never forget the poor when they are rich, and the humble when they are noble. Now that they have become a family of officials, their children should avoid being tainted with official spirit. He said: "My nephews and nephews are half-farming and half-reading, to keep the tradition of their ancestors, and be careful not to retain any official spirit. They are not allowed to sit in sedan chairs, and they are not allowed to ask people to fetch water. Things such as adding tea and collecting dung must be done one by one. Things such as planting fields and harvesting crops must also be learned from time to time. Ji Ze must not sit on it, but Cheng brother can only sit on it occasionally." This kind of sedan cannot enter Xiangxiang County, Hengyang Prefecture, let alone the provincial capital. He also asked Chengdi to "reduce rather than increase" the bearers and porters, and to pay attention to this matter at all times.

Zeng Guofan also strictly prohibited his family members from intervening in local administration in his hometown. He wrote a letter to his family saying: Since my family is a country squire, I must not go into the office to talk about official business, which will cause me to be despised by the officials. That is to say, if something happens to our family, we would rather suffer a loss, but we must not file a lawsuit with others, which will make the superiors suspect that they are relying on their power to bully others.

He also warned his brothers: They should always be in awe, and do not dare to insult others by saying that someone in the family is an official.

He strongly warned his children not to hand in notes and go through the back door. After Zeng Jihong became a scholar, he went to Fucheng several times to take the annual scientific examination, but all failed. In the seventh year of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan, who was already a bachelor, wrote a letter to warn Ji Hong: "You are not allowed to interact with the prefectures and counties in front of the court, and you are not allowed to send notes. At the beginning of your career, you must know how to respect yourself." Ji Hong failed to win, so Zeng Guofan sent his son to Ji Hong. I received personal teaching from the Jinling Yamen Office, but never used the back door.

In the third year of Tongzhi (January 1864), Ji Hong traveled from Changsha to Jinling. His father asked him not to disturb the local governor along the way, and to avoid as much as possible. He also told the people on the boat to flag the flag " I'm not on board, so don't hang up by mistake." No matter how big or small, the word "modesty" is taken into consideration, which can be said to be well-intentioned.

In addition, he also has the idea of ??guarding against arrogance when it comes to learning.

Throughout the ages, literati have become an old habit. Zeng had a clear understanding of this and strongly advocated "preventing arrogance" from the shortcomings of medical scholars.

On November 20, the twenty-fourth year of Daoguang's reign (1844), he wrote to his four younger brothers at home:

I am the best at learning. Be humble. When seeing friends with beautiful talents, they often rely on their talents and arrogance, saying that others are inferior to themselves. When they see local ink, they scold them for being incompetent in local ink. Academy. To be fair, there is really nothing in my poems that is superior to others; not only is there nothing special about it, but there are also aspects that are unbearable for others. Just because he refused to ask others for help, he saw that others were not good and scolded not only the examiner but also his classmates who got first place in the exam. As arrogance grows, you will never make progress, so you will live a life of poverty without making any progress.

I warn my younger brothers not to be arrogant and show no merit in others. Once pride grows, it will be difficult to make progress throughout life. In the letter, he also used his own academic experience to encourage his brothers. He wrote: Yu's career has been extremely smooth, but he failed in the quiz seven times. He did not dare to complain, but he was deeply ashamed of his poems in the examination room. The writing is large and nothing more. When I think about it now, it's like a ray of light on my back... Among the houses built, there are only those who are lucky with bad writing, and there are no good ones who are buried. This is a certain principle.

Zeng Guofan also used examples of other people who were unable to achieve anything or were laughed at because of their arrogance to warn his younger brothers. He wrote:

The third and fourth uncles must be diligent in reading. , just because they are too arrogant and complacent, they cannot be powerful. There are also many complacent people in the capital. Those who know them will just sneer when they see them. There are also people who are famous people. They despise their academic name as Dung Tu. Some are good at writing poetry, some are good at textual research, some are good at talking about Neo-Confucianism, and they are noisy. Xiao thinks he is overwhelming.

The one who knows himself appears, and what he has created is no more than a sneer.

For this reason, he concluded: We work hard to get rid of arrogance, to guard against complacency, and not to be ridiculed by others, so we can make progress. Zeng Guofan was well aware of the principle of "being modest will benefit you, but being humble will bring harm". In all his undertakings, abstaining from arrogance was the most important thing, and it was also the way to remain undefeated in his life.

"The two disadvantages of being often arrogant and talking too much, looking at the rise and fall of ministers in the past and the reasons for the misfortune and blessings of the officialdom in recent times, we have to regard these two as cardinals." This sentence is from Zeng Guofan's official career. experience. He believes that being unruly will arouse the hostility of others, causing everyone to attack; being too talkative is equally undesirable, as it will also make oneself passive.