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A gem cannot be polished without friction.

Chinese proverb

PhilosophyProverbs

The story behind the card

The line was in print in English by 1836, when John Francis Davis, a British scholar of China who later became Governor of Hong Kong, listed it among Chinese sayings in his book The Chinese. His full version runs: “The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without adversity.” A similar picture appears in the Book of Rites (Liji), one of the Confucian classics: jade that is not carved cannot become a useful vessel, and a person who does not learn cannot know the right way to live.

Türkçe oku
Mücevher sürtünmeden parlatılamaz.
Çin atasözü

Söz İngilizcede en geç 1836'da basılmıştı. Sonradan Hong Kong valisi olan İngiliz Çin uzmanı John Francis Davis, The Chinese adlı kitabında sözün tamamını Çin sözleri arasında şöyle verir: “Mücevher sürtünmeden parlatılamaz, insan da sıkıntı çekmeden olgunlaşamaz.” Benzer bir imge, Konfüçyüsçülüğün temel kitaplarından Liji'de (Törenler Kitabı) de geçer: İşlenmeyen yeşim işe yarar bir kap olmaz; öğrenmeyen insan da doğru yolu bilemez. Türkçede aynı düşünceyi “Zahmetsiz rahmet olmaz” atasözü anlatır.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Book of Rites
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