Zeng Guofan wrote in a diary: Calm down and think carefully, there is no time limit for hundreds of millions of years in ancient and modern times. Life is only a few decades, which is only a short time in comparison; all things on the earth are boundless and endless. People sleep, live, play, and rest in it. They only occupy a room during the day and a bed at night. There are so many books written by ancients and modern people, and what a person can read in a lifetime is just a drop in the bucket. Things in the world are ever-changing, and there are hundreds of ways to gain a good reputation. What a person can get by exerting all his talents in his life is as small as a grain of corn in a big warehouse. If you know how long the sky is and how short you can experience, you can be patient when encountering troubles and adversities in order to wait for them to calm down. When in a situation where you are competing for glory and gain, you can give in and guard your hen. Knowing that the ancient and modern books are vast, but you have seen very little, you should not dare to be complacent with a little gain, but should think about choosing the good and doing the best. Obedience means restraint and perseverance; if you know that things in the world are changing a lot, but you can do little, you should not dare to be proud of yourself just because of a little fame, but you should think about recommending talents so that others can conspire with each other. In this way, the understanding of selfishness and complacency can be gradually avoided.