Zi said: "If there is the beauty of Zhou Gong's talent, he is arrogant and stingy, and the rest is not enough." ”
Confucius said: "Even if you have such a beautiful talent as the Duke of Zhou, if you are proud and stingy, then other aspects are not worth mentioning." ”
Confucius argued that if a person is talented, but arrogant and stingy, then talent is not worth mentioning, illustrating the importance of cultivating morality. The Duke of Zhou, the son of King Wen, assisted the regent of the king, laid a solid foundation for the 800 years of the Zhou Dynasty, and was the only saint that Confucius wanted to emulate, very talented and capable, but Confucius said that even if you have a talent like the Duke of Zhou, but you are proud and stingy, then your talent is nothing.
This not only reminds us of the direction of self-cultivation and morality, but also provides a basis for future generations to recognize and distinguish people.
There are many such people in real life, and there is no shortage of talented people in the world, but there are very few talented people who are also very modest and eager to learn. Therefore, we say that the people who are often successful in the end are not the people who seem to be smart on the surface, but those who are a little bit honest and benevolent, they are not stupid, but they are wise and foolish, they can see everything, but they will not behave everywhere, and they will be above others everywhere. When you learn a little bit about it, you understand some rules, and at this time the impetuous and inflated heart rises, and I am slow to pay tribute to me, and I feel that the people around me are very stupid and stupid, and no one cares about it. Frankly speaking, I myself had such a stage, but the more I studied and read the more sages I read, the more I realized how stupid I was, and I didn't even understand anything, and only then did I slowly cultivate my piety. No matter how talented a person is, he likes to show off himself, and he feels that no one is as good as him, and this person basically can't see the merits in anyone, and this so-called talent in him can't do anything really beneficial to society.
Then some people will have a contradictory mentality, Teacher Mulan, didn't you say that you should be high-profile or even arrogant, dare to seize the opportunity and dare to perform?This is where many people are easy to learn, we say that when facing work, you have to know that you don't show your muscles properly, show your strength, you can't win any opportunities for yourself. But when you leave your job and go back to real life, you have to be quite humble and low-key, even with your tail between your legs, which is a person's great wisdom. That is, we often say high-profile work and low-key life.
But it is easy for people to bring their work habits to life, so that wherever he goes, he thinks that Lao Tzu is the best in the world, and he is also very arrogant in life, and no one looks down on him, which is easy to bring trouble to himself. Including you at work, now in the Internet era, you see some of the big V, bigwigs on the Internet, what they write is very crazy, extreme, but you really contact him in real life, you will find that he is very modest, low-key, inconspicuous to even your next door Wang is not as good, although talented people are a little arrogant, but you can't pass, this degree has to be grasped well, this is the wisdom of being in the world.
Let's talk about this stinginess, why Confucius specifically mentioned this characteristic, because a person who is stingy must be greedy, will like to take advantage of others, and is indifferent and does not want to pay, so this person has this characteristic, even if he is full of economy and talent, what can he do?It doesn't make his talent useful, there are many such people around me, who have read books for more than ten years and decades, but he is so rotten that he is reluctant to share them, and there are some people who are engaged in educational work, and he will always retain some so-called "housekeeping skills", because the apprentices of the church starve to death the master. This is the manifestation of stinginess, which will directly lead to you being stuck in the same place for more than ten years, and this is what teaching and learning mean. The best learning must be taught, the more you teach others, the more you learn, the faster you learn, this is a kind of forced growth. Why do I keep asking everyone to share some of your successes or failures, on the one hand, you can also awaken more women like you, and on the other hand, you can also accumulate blessings for yourself. You have talent, you have experience, you have good experience, but you don't want to be open, you don't want to help others, so talent and these experiences don't make you who you are, because he doesn't deserve to be mentioned.
This also tells us from the side that when choosing a partner, when choosing a work partner, this person is talented, of course, but this person has no one in his eyes, and is very concerned about personal gains and losses and is unwilling to pay, always wants to take advantage of others, even if he is married, he only cares about himself in his eyes, and has no sense of family responsibility at all, so in fact, this person's talent has no practical significance, and there is no need to choose.
To sum up, virtue must be in front of talent, and it is best to have both talent and virtue, but if you really can't get it, virtue must be more important than talent.