An exhortation
Two Han Dynasties: Zhuge Liang
A gentleman's journey is quiet to cultivate one's morality, and frugal to cultivate one's morality. Not cold, not awake, not quiet, not far away. You must be quiet before you can study. If you don't learn, you can't be versatile, and if you don't want to learn, you can't succeed. Slow can't have vitality, and risk can't have sex. Time goes by, meaning goes by, and then becomes withered, not meeting the world, and staying in a poor house sadly. What will happen? (indifferent work: mooring; Slow work makes fine work: slow)
Second, translation.
The character of a gentleman is to improve self-cultivation from tranquility and cultivate morality from thrift. You can't be clear about your ambitions without being quiet, and you can't achieve your lofty goals without excluding external interference. Learning must be calm and single-minded, and talent comes from learning. Therefore, if you don't study, you won't grow up, and if you don't have ambition, you won't get results.
Indulging in laziness can't cheer you up, nor can impatience and adventure cultivate your temperament. Time flies, and the will passes with the years. In the end, most of them are out of touch with the world and are not used by society. They can only sit in the poor house sadly. How could they regret it at that time?
Extended data
Creation background
This article was written by Zhuge Liang to his eight-year-old son, Zhuge Zhan, in the 12th year of Jian Xing in Shu Han Dynasty (234). Zhuge Liang dedicated his life to the country and died. He worked day and night for the national cause of Shu and Han and neglected to educate his son personally, so he wrote this letter to warn Zhuge Zhan.
Zhuge Liang?
Zhuge Liang (18 1-234), a native of Yang Du, Xuzhou (now yinan county, Linyi City, Shandong Province), was a prime minister in Shu and Han Dynasties, an outstanding politician, strategist, essayist and calligrapher. When he was alive, he was named Hou of Wuxiang, and after his death, he pursued loyalty to Hou of Wuxiang. The Eastern Jin regime made him the King of Wuxing. Zhuge Liang devoted himself to the Shu-Han regime until he died.
Representative prose works include An Example and A Book of Commandments. He once invented the wooden ox, the flying horse, the Kongming lantern and so on, and transformed the crossbow, called Zhuge Lian crossbow, which can hit all targets with one crossbow. He died in Wuzhangyuan (now Qishan, Baoji) in 234. Zhuge Liang was highly respected in later generations, becoming a model of loyal ministers and the embodiment of wisdom. Chengdu, Baoji, Hanzhong, Nanyang and other places have Wuhou Temple, and Du Fu wrote Shu Xiang to praise Zhuge Liang.