Fri, Nov 13, 2026

子曰：「君子坦蕩蕩，小人長戚戚。」

Source： https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E8%AB%96%E8%AA%9E/%E8%BF%B0%E8%80%8C%E7%AC%AC%E4%B8%83
述而第七·七之三六

This is a direct reading: the original and source are kept; commentary will be added later.

子曰：「君子欲訥於言而敏於行。」

Source： https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E8%AB%96%E8%AA%9E/%E9%87%8C%E4%BB%81%E7%AC%AC%E5%9B%9B
里仁第四·四之二四

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The word VALUE, it is to be observed, has two different meanings, and sometimes expresses the utility of some particular object, and sometimes the power of purchasing other goods which the possession of that object conveys. The one may be called ‘value in use;’ the other, ‘value in exchange.’ The things which have the greatest value in use have frequently little or no value in exchange; and, on the contrary, those which have the greatest value in exchange have frequently little or no value in use. Nothing is more useful than water; but it will purchase scarce any thing; scarce any thing can be had in exchange for it. A diamond, on the contrary, has scarce any value in use; but a very great quantity of other goods may frequently be had in exchange for it.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3300
Book I, Chapter IV, paragraph 68

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There was a pause; then the president of the bridge company, Mr. Allison, the great Senator, asked if I would excuse them for a few moments. I retired. Soon they recalled me and offered the contract, provided we took the lower price, which was only a few thousand dollars less. I agreed to the concession. That cast-iron lamp-post so opportunely smashed gave us one of our most profitable contracts and, what is more, obtained for us the reputation of having taken the Dubuque bridge against all competitors. It also laid the foundation for me of a lifelong, unbroken friendship with one of America's best and most valuable public men, Senator Allison.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17976
Chapter IX, excerpt 58

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The second negative factor, far more telling, is our size. Our equity capital is more than twenty times what it was only ten years ago. And an iron law of business is that growth eventually dampens exceptional economics. just look at the records of high- return companies once they have amassed even $1 billion of equity capital. None that I know of has managed subsequently, over a ten-year period, to keep on earning 20% or more on equity while reinvesting all or substantially all of its earnings. Instead, to sustain their high returns, such companies have needed to shed a lot of capital by way of either dividends or repurchases of stock. Their shareholders would have been far better off if all earnings could have been reinvested at the fat returns earned by these exceptional businesses. But the companies simply couldn’t turn up enough high-return opportunities to make that possible.

Source： https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1985.html
1985 Chairman's Letter, excerpt 4

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