I just recently purchased two books (both of which I highly recommend, and I'm not even usually a book person), my favourite being Best Loved Chinese Proverbs (2nd Edition). And it is just mind boggling how powerful the wisdom surging from these century old saying can provide.
More specifically, here are some of my favourite proverbs that struck me the hardest:
• A feather's length of error can lead one a thousand miles astray. [adversity]
• Wait long, strike fast. [strategy]
• A fish not caught by a hook may be caught by a net. [strategy]
• Do not swat the fly when it rests on the tiger's head. [strategy]
• In war, there can never be too much deception. [strategy]
• Beat the grass to scare the snakes. [strategy]
• Use every step as your base. [strategy]
• True success comes from within. Do not hope to strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. [success]
• The darker the night, the brighter the stars. [inspiration]
• Limits only pertain to those who believe in them. [inspiration]
It's insane just how applicable and meaningful a lot of the wisdom that China's great minds have articulated over so many years is still so timeless and valuable. Anyways take it easy everyone!
I hate to rain on your parade, but this is a lot like The Art of War, most of these things are BASIC common sense... I mean unless you really lack common sense, these just don't seem that amazing to me.
I hate to rain on your parade, but this is a lot like The Art of War, most of these things are BASIC common sense... I mean unless you really lack common sense, these just don't seem that amazing to me.
Some of our greatest revelations comes from the head slappingly simple. There is a lot of hidden depth that the words themselves can not fully convey.
Nice post These are some good quotes. I agree 100% with you, that many of the most important lessons are ones that are very simple once learned. This applies to science as well I think.
I hate to rain on your parade, but this is a lot like The Art of War, most of these things are BASIC common sense... I mean unless you really lack common sense, these just don't seem that amazing to me.
Some of our greatest revelations comes from the head slappingly simple. There is a lot of hidden depth that the words themselves can not fully convey.
On the other hand, many of the simplistic sayings people love have no depth at all. A statement isn't wise just because it's trite.
On May 01 2011 11:03 FODDER~ wrote: • A feather's length of error can lead one a thousand miles astray. [adversity]
I'm pretty sure taking the wrong exit won't lead me a thousand miles astray. As for how this metaphor relates to life? I don't know, wrong choices don't always result in geographical relocation.
• A fish not caught by a hook may be caught by a net. [strategy]
That seems fairly obvious. It can also be caught with your hand.
• Do not swat the fly when it rests on the tiger's head. [strategy]
This is very useful. I am constantly swatting flies and not checking whether they have landed on ferocious beasts or not. I will keep this in mind next time.
• Use every step as your base. [strategy]
I have no idea what this means.
• True success comes from within. Do not hope to strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. [success]
This is not helpful at all. Although success may come from within, weakening the strong is actually a fairly useful tactic. Has this person never heard of starving your enemy? I am pretty sure that fits the definition of weakening the strong. The entire idea of guerrilla warfare works under this principle.
• The darker the night, the brighter the stars. [inspiration]
This quote is frankly just stupid. I don't see how this inspiring, maybe someone can help me out with this.
• Limits only pertain to those who believe in them. [inspiration]
This quote is not just stupid, but insulting. Try telling the 2 billion starving in this world that quote.
The few I did not quote were ok I guess.
I really hate the idea that one or two sentences is supposed to give you some magic wisdom. Life is not simple, and simplifying it unnecessarily often causes problems. Life is often complicated and one word suggestions or mantras rarely if ever manage to encapsulate what you need to know. Even if they do work the majority of the time, sticking to a simple mantra can suck the creativity out of you if the few percent that are different you actually need to do something different.
Plus, the only time that they are useful, they are so vague that they don't even matter anyway. For example "Practice makes perfect." Yeah I get it, more experience with something will lead to a greater skill with that thing. But practicing for a long time will not necessarily make you an Olympic swimmer. If you want to try, thats great, and more power to you if you succeed. Being grounded helps when you fail though, which most people inevitably do. Plus, not all practice is equal. It is entirely possible that you are practicing wrong, and gaining bad experience. "Practice makes perfect" may be kind of true, but it is also effectively useless, just like the majority of these quotes.
On May 01 2011 11:03 FODDER~ wrote: • The darker the night, the brighter the stars. [inspiration]
This quote is frankly just stupid. I don't see how this inspiring, maybe someone can help me out with this.
The quote is not what's inspiring, its a quote about inspiration.
edit - quote fail
That makes it sound even more useless.
Please elaborate.
Unless I misunderstood c3berUs, it is a quote about inspiration instead of a quote meant to inspire. So a metaphor about the stars in the sky is supposed to describe inspiration in less than 20 words. How is that not useless? I literally cannot think of a single way in which that quote about inspiration, or any one sentence quote describing inspiration (unless it is giving a definition), can be useful.
Of course, if I misunderstood c3berUs and he meant something different, then that doesn't apply.
I'm pretty sure taking the wrong exit won't lead me a thousand miles astray. As for how this metaphor relates to life? I don't know, wrong choices don't always result in geographical relocation.
You seem to not understand that each and every one of these quotes from the book are almost all not literal. By a thousand miles astray it means off course from your goals or intentions. It's an indirect relation to the showball effect of how one miniscule error can lead to exponential adversities.
flowSthead:
That seems fairly obvious. It can also be caught with your hand.
Again you are trying to solidify a philosophical standpoint. Something that is intangible and not supposed to be taken literally. What this quote is going for is the idea that a good plan has a fallback and can accomedate for all outcomes (fish movements) whereas the hook in this instance is a single forced and fixated strategy.
flowShead:
This is very useful. I am constantly swatting flies and not checking whether they have landed on ferocious beasts or not. I will keep this in mind next time.
Again you seem to not be able to grasp basic concepts that are not necessarily literal. This quote is warning that a good plan with bad timeings can be self-destructive.
flowSthead:
I have no idea what this means.
It's rather simple. What it advocates is gradual advancements and fortification upon every small victory.
flowSthead:
This is not helpful at all. Although success may come from within, weakening the strong is actually a fairly useful tactic. Has this person never heard of starving your enemy? I am pretty sure that fits the definition of weakening the strong. The entire idea of guerrilla warfare works under this principle.
What this quote is advocating is higher success can come from one's own improvement and strength rather than relying on your opposition being incompetent or worse than you. This is assumeing your opposition is better than you.
flowSthead:
This quote is frankly just stupid. I don't see how this inspiring, maybe someone can help me out with this.
It is an earlier alternate to the famous, "It's always darkest before the dawn," inspirational/bounce back quote. It's meant to highlight the existence of silver lineings even in your darkest hours.
flowSthead:
This quote is not just stupid, but insulting. Try telling the 2 billion starving in this world that quote.
I'll admit the world isn't perfect. But anything rarely is. But having a can do attitude and positive outlook regardless of who you are, where you are from, or what hardships you are faceing at any rage can certaintly help if not eventually overcome the hurdles they are presented with.
Anyways hope I was able to help you understand Chinese philosophy a little bit better. You definately seem to be far too materialistic in your thought process to understand their wisdom (no offense intended at all, we're all different and think differently).
On May 01 2011 11:03 FODDER~ wrote: • The darker the night, the brighter the stars. [inspiration]
This quote is frankly just stupid. I don't see how this inspiring, maybe someone can help me out with this.
The quote is not what's inspiring, its a quote about inspiration.
edit - quote fail
That makes it sound even more useless.
Please elaborate.
Unless I misunderstood c3berUs, it is a quote about inspiration instead of a quote meant to inspire. So a metaphor about the stars in the sky is supposed to describe inspiration in less than 20 words. How is that not useless? I literally cannot think of a single way in which that quote about inspiration, or any one sentence quote describing inspiration (unless it is giving a definition), can be useful.
Of course, if I misunderstood c3berUs and he meant something different, then that doesn't apply.
Just because it has no use to you, does not mean it is useless. Also, if you can not think of a single way in which that quote could be useful, then i suggest you brush up on your critical thinking skills.
EPT
