Diligence

Shun Jing (of the Han period) hung his hair from the roof to study, Shu Qing used a needle to sting his behind in order to study. In the end, both men achieved fame as scholars. Du Pu (poet from Tang dynasty) said, "If you read in excess of thousands of books, when you write it will come freely and naturally." Diligence and reading books all his life helped Du Pu to become a famous scholar of his generation.

As time flows and the universe moves along its course, the word "diligence" is still alive and its meaning remains bright. "There is one pass through the mountain of books, knowledge is a large sea and diligence is the boat with which you can cross it," said Han Yu (poet from Tang dynasty). This was the motto of thousands of people for thousands of years. Sun Zi (philosopher during the spring and summer periods) said, "When you start carving something, if you stop halfway, you won't even be able to break off wood that is rotten; if you continue carving it, then gold stones can be carved into statues. In modern times, the writer Lu Xun said at the height of his fame, "I'm not a genius, I just kept working while others were taking a coffee break." The famous writer Li Bing also said, "Inspiration is the prize you receive for hard work. That is to say, inspiration comes when you study hard. Time passes quickly until now, when there is a new saying, "It's never too late to learn." This has been widely accepted, and "diligence" is not only for students but for everyone.

While he developed his theories of time and space, Einstein wrote another formula: "Success = hard work + correct ways + focus."* We can clearly see: diligence + the correct method = success. You will not be able to succeed with just diligence but without correct study methods. Only with both diligence and correct study methods will you succeed.

In modern society people are actively studying. Everybody studies hard, what about you?

*Editor's note: What Einstein really said was: "If A equals success, then the formula A=x+y+z, where x is work, y is play, and z is keeping your mouth shut." What the author wrote in his essay was what he had learned in his schoolbooks. We see this misquote as a reflection of a Chinese education system that does little to recognize the importance of "productive play."