In the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), there was a man called Yue Yangzi in Henan Prefecture. Fortunately he had a kind wife whose name, unfortunately, remains unknown.
One day, Yue Yangzi picked up a piece of gold. Gladly, he rushed back home to show it to his wife. However, his wife said, “I hear that the one with ambition doesn’t drink the water of Dao Spring (Robber Spring) because its name sounds disgusting and he would rather starve to death than eating food given by the people who disrespect him and wouldn’t pick up the thing others lost because these would damage their morality.” Yue Yangzi was very ashamed after hearing his wife’s words and threw the piece of gold off into the fields and went to study in a far place.
One year later, Yue Yangzi came back home. His wife asked him the reason for his return. Yue said, “I was homesick and miss you very much, having been away for such a long time.”
After hearing what Yue said, his wife took up a scissors and walked to the loom, saying, “To weave cloth, I first reel the silk thread off cocoons and then weave the cloth with one after another silk thread inch by inch. If I snip the clothes, all my previous efforts are wasted.”
She continued, “Studying is also like this. You should acquire new knowledge every day, thus making your morality better and better. You come back leaving your studies unfinished, which is just the same as spoiling the half-finished cloth.”
Yue Yangzi was deeply moved by his wife’s words. Then, he went back to his studies and didn’t return home for seven consecutive years.
This idiom comes fromBo kofRites: DoctrineoftheGoldenMean. It refers to giving up halfway.
