Topic
Growth
Read by theme, not by timeline.
A Journey of a Thousand Miles
合抱之木,生於毫末;九層之臺,起於累土;千里之行,始於足下。
Great things begin small: a tree from a sprout, a tower from a basket of earth, a long journey from the first step.
Growth · Action · Character · Philosophy · Chinese classics
To Learn and Practice
子曰:「學而時習之,不亦說乎?有朋自遠方來,不亦樂乎?人不知而不慍,不亦君子乎?」
Learning practiced over time, friends from afar, and equanimity when misunderstood — the opening of the Analects.
Learning · Growth · Character · Chinese classics
Don't Mistake Your Vocation
The safest plan, and the one most sure of success for the young man starting in life, is to select the vocation which is most congenial to his tastes.
The safest path for a young person is to choose the vocation most congenial to their nature.
Wealth · Growth · Decision · Western classics
Thinking Stuff
There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the…
Wattles' metaphysical premise: a thinking substance permeates and fills the universe.
Wealth · Cognition · Growth · Western classics
You Attract What You Are
Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.
People do not attract what they want; they attract what they are.
Character · Cognition · Growth · Western classics
Sloth and Industry
Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all easy.
Sloth makes everything difficult; industry makes everything easy.
Wealth · Action · Growth · Western classics
To Learn and Practice (Legge)
Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application?
Legge's translation of the opening of the Analects.
Learning · Growth · Chinese classics (translation)
A Journey of a Thousand Miles (Legge)
The tree which fills the arms grew from the tiniest sprout; the tower of nine storeys rose from a (small) heap of earth; the journey of a thousand li…
Legge's translation of Laozi on great things beginning with a single step.
Growth · Action · Chinese classics (translation)
It's All About the Long Term
We believe that a fundamental measure of our success will be the shareholder value we create over the long term.
Bezos defines success by long-term shareholder value, not short-term earnings.
Investing · Decision · Leadership · Growth · Modern investor letters
Bold Rather Than Timid
We will make bold rather than timid investment decisions where we see a sufficient probability of gaining market leadership advantages. Some of these…
Make bold bets when the odds of market leadership justify them; learn from both wins and losses.
Investing · Decision · Action · Growth · Learning · Modern investor letters
Day 2
Day 2 is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death.
Day 2 is stasis, then irrelevance, then painful decline, then death.
Leadership · Decision · Growth · Cognition · Modern investor letters
Pain + Reflection = Progress
Pain + Reflection = Progress. There is no avoiding pain, especially if you're going after ambitious goals.
Treat pain as a signal; reflect on it deliberately, and it becomes progress.
Cognition · Growth · Character · Decision · Learning · Modern investor letters
Do Things That Don't Scale
One of the most common types of advice we give at Y Combinator is to do things that don't scale.
Early startups should do unscalable things to get and keep users.
Growth · Action · Learning · Leadership · Modern investor letters
The Definition of Patience
耐心,就是正视现实,承认很多事情需要时间慢慢发展,不轻易消耗自身资源强推。
Patience means facing reality, accepting that many things take time, and not burning your resources to force them.
Growth · Character · Decision · Action · Modern investor letters
Exponential Returns Come Later
指数增长的好投资,最大的回报往往是在后面几年。
In a good exponential investment, most of the return arrives in the later years.
Investing · Wealth · Growth · Character · Modern investor letters
See the Worthy and Aspire
子曰:「見賢思齊焉,見不賢而內自省也。」
See the worthy and aspire to match them; see the unworthy and examine yourself.
Character · Learning · Growth · Human nature · Chinese classics
Knowing Yourself Is Clarity
知人者智,自知者明。勝人者有力,自勝者強。知足者富。強行者有志。不失其所者久。死而不亡者壽。
Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is clarity. Mastering yourself is true strength.
Character · Philosophy · Cognition · Growth · Chinese classics
Life from Adversity, Death from Comfort
然後知生於憂患,而死於安樂也。
Adversity keeps a person alive; comfort lets them decay.
Character · Growth · History · Philosophy · Chinese classics
Live Deliberately
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to…
Live deliberately, face the essential facts, and do not discover at death that you never lived.
Character · Philosophy · Growth · Learning · Western classics
Reading, Conference, Writing
Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.
Reading fills, discussion sharpens, and writing makes exact.
Learning · Cognition · Growth · Action · Western classics
Trust Thyself
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.
Trust your own judgment; every heart responds to that iron string.
Character · Philosophy · Decision · Growth · Western classics
Caigentan, Entry 2
涉世淺,點染亦淺;歷事深,機械亦深。故君子與其練達,不若樸魯;與其曲謹,不若疏狂。
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Caigentan, Entry 5
耳中常聞逆耳之言,心中常有拂心之事,纔是進德修行的砥石。若言言悅耳,事事快心,便把此生埋在鴆毒中矣。
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Caigentan, Entry 10
恩裏由來生害,故快意時,須早回頭; 敗後或反成功,故拂心處,莫便放手。
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Caigentan, Entry 11
藜口莧腸者,多冰清玉潔;袞衣玉食者,甘婢膝奴顏。蓋志以澹泊明,而節從肥甘喪也。
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Caigentan, Entry 18
蓋世功勞,當不得一個矜字; 彌天罪過,當不得一個悔字。
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Caigentan, Entry 20
事事留個有餘不盡的意思,便造物不能忌我,鬼神不能損我。若業必求滿,功必求盈者,不生內變,必召外憂。
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Caigentan, Entry 28
處世不必邀功,無過便是功; 與人不求感德,無怨便是德。
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Caigentan, Entry 30
人至事窮勢蹙,宜原其初心; 士當行滿功成,要觀其末路。
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Caigentan, Entry 44
立身不高一步立,如塵裏振衣,泥中濯足,如何超達; 處世不退一步處,如飛蛾投燭,羝羊觸藩,如何安樂。
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Caigentan, Entry 45
學者要收拾精神,併歸一路。如修德而留意於事功名譽,必無實詣;讀書而寄興於吟詠風雅,定不深心。
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Caigentan, Entry 47
進德修道,要個木石的念頭,若一有欣羨,便趨慾境; 濟世經邦,要段雲水的趣味,若一有貪著,便墮危機。
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Caigentan, Entry 52
我有功於人不可念,而過則不可不念; 人有恩於我不可忘,而怨則不可不忘。
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Caigentan, Entry 53
施恩者,內不見己,外不見人,則斗粟可當萬鍾之惠; 利物者,計己之施,責人之報,雖百鎰難成一文之功。
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Caigentan, Entry 60
富貴名譽,自道德來者,如山林中花,自是舒餘繁衍;自功業來者,如盆檻中花,便有遷徙廢興;若以權力得者,如瓶鉢中花,其根不值,其萎可立而待矣。
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Caigentan, Entry 70
燥性者火熾,遇物則焚;寡恩者冰清,逢物必殺;凝滯固執者,如死水腐木,生機已絕。俱難建功業而延福祇。
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Caigentan, Entry 72
十語九中,未必稱奇,一語不中,則愆尤駢集; 十謀九成,未必歸功,一謀不成,則訾議叢興。 君子所以寧默毋躁,寧拙毋巧。
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Caigentan, Entry 73
天地之氣,暖則生,寒則殺。故性氣清冷者,受享亦涼薄。唯和氣熱心之人,其福亦厚,其澤亦長。
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Caigentan, Entry 75
一苦一樂相磨鍊,鍊極而成福者,其福始久; 一疑一信相參勘,勘極而成知者,其知始真。
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Caigentan, Entry 78
泛駕之馬可就馳驅,躍冶之金終歸型範。只一優游不振,便終身無個進步。白沙云:「為人多病未足羞,一生無病是吾憂。」真確論也。
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Caigentan, Entry 81
圖未就之功,不如保已成之業; 悔既往之失,不如防將來之非。
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Caigentan, Entry 90
捨己毋處其疑,處其疑,即所舍之志多愧矣; 施人無責其報,責其報,並所施之心俱非矣。
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Caigentan, Entry 109
怨因德彰,故使人德我,不若德怨之兩忘; 仇因恩立,故使人知恩,不若恩仇之俱泯。
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Caigentan, Entry 116
千金難結一時之歡,一飯竟致終身之感。蓋愛重反為仇,薄極反成喜也。
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Caigentan, Entry 118
衰颯的景象,就在盛滿中; 發生的機緘,即在零落內。 故君子居安,宜操一心以慮患;處變,當堅百忍以圖成。
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Caigentan, Entry 121
毋偏信而為奸所欺, 毋自任而為氣所使。 毋以己之長而形人之短, 毋因己之拙而忌人之能。
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Caigentan, Entry 126
勝私制慾之功,有曰識不早,力不易者,有曰識得破,忍不過者。蓋識是一顆照魔的明珠,力是一把斬魔的慧劍,兩不可少也。
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Caigentan, Entry 137
功過不容少混,混則人懷惰墮之心; 恩仇不可太明,明則人起攜貳之志。
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Caigentan, Entry 139
惡忌陰,善忌陽,故惡之顯者禍淺,而隱者禍深;善之顯者功小,而隱者功大。
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Caigentan, Entry 142
當與人同過,不當與人同功,同功則相忌; 可與人共患難,不可與人共安樂,安樂則相仇。
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Caigentan, Entry 143
士君子,貧不能濟物者,遇人癡迷處,出一言提醒之;遇人急難處,出一言解救之,亦是無量功德。
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Caigentan, Entry 145
德隨量進,量由識長。故欲厚其德,不可不弘其量;欲弘其量,不可不大其識。
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Caigentan, Entry 150
作人無點真懇念頭,便成個花子,事事皆虛;涉世無段圓活機趣,便是個木人,處處有礙。
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Caigentan, Entry 157
德者事業之基,未有基不固而棟宇堅久者。 心者後嗣之本,未有本不立而枝葉茂榮者。
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Caigentan, Entry 162
為善不見其益,如草裏東瓜,自應暗長; 為惡不見其損,如庭前春雪,勢必潛消。
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Caigentan, Entry 182
忙裏要偷閑,須先向閑時討個把柄; 鬧中要取靜,須先從靜裏立個根基; 不然,未有不因境而遷,隨時而靡者。
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Caigentan, Entry 183
不昧己心,不盡人情,不竭物力;三者可以為天地立心,為生民立命,為子孫造福。
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Caigentan, Entry 189
磨礪當如百煉之金,急就者,必非邃養; 施為宜似千鈞之弩,輕發者,決無宏功。
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Caigentan, Entry 195
建功立業者,多圓融之士; 僨事失機者,必執拗之人。
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Caigentan, Entry 201
宴飲之樂多,不是個好人家; 聲華之習勝,不是個好士子; 名位之念重,不是個好臣工。
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