Explanation of the famous saying:
Song Ouyang Xiu's Discrimination of Zuo's Family.
gentleman: a person with high moral character. Self-cultivation: to cultivate one's moral character. Correct: correct, used as a verb here. Rong: Appearance and appearance. The main idea of these two sentences is: the way for a gentleman to improve his self-cultivation is; Internally, make your own thoughts correct; Externally, make your appearance clean and tidy.
judging a person's moral accomplishment, correct thinking is an important criterion, and appearance is also an aspect that can't be ignored. It is hard to imagine that a disheveled person has a high accomplishment, so now he advocates "five stresses", "four beauties" and "beauty of appearance". This famous sentence can be quoted when discussing the cultivation of personal good moral character.
Famous sayings come from "Zuo Shi Bian" by Ouyang Xiu in Song and Northern Song Dynasties
Famous sayings by Ouyang Xiu
Ouyang Xiu's archives: a writer and historian in Northern Song Dynasty.