QuoteProject
Chang Tzu tells us of a persevering man who after three laborious years mastered the art of dragon-slaying. For the rest of his days, he had not a single opportunity to test his skills.
Jorge Luis Borges
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects the idea that mastery can be untested, highlighting the value of perseverance even without immediate validation.

In this quote by Jorge Luis Borges, Chang Tzu illustrates the journey of a man who dedicates three years to mastering dragon-slaying, a skill that he never has the chance to use. This story emphasizes the virtue of perseverance and the pursuit of excellence for its own sake, suggesting that the process of learning and self-improvement is valuable, regardless of external recognition or practical application of skills.

Themes

PerseveranceMasteryLearningSkillExcellence

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a motivational speech about the importance of hard work and dedication to one's craft.

More from Jorge Luis Borges

You can't measure time by days, the way you measure money by dollars and cents, because dollars are all the same while every day is different and maybe every hour as well.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead
To say good-bye is to deny separation; it is to say Today we play at going our own ways, but we'll see each other tomorrow. Men invented farewells because they somehow knew themselves to be immortal, even while seeing themselves as contingent and ephemeral.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead
The execution was set for the 29th of March, at nine in the morning. This delay was due to a desire on the part of the authorities to act slowly and impersonally, in the manner of planets or vegetables.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead
This felicitous supposition declared that there is only one Individual, and that this indivisible Individual is every one of the separate beings in the universe, and that these beings are the instruments and masks of divinity itself.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead
A man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by, he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead
Let neither tear nor reproach besmirch this declaration of the mastery of God who, with magnificent irony, granted me both the gift of books and the night.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead

Similar quotes

I became a better listener than I ever had been as a result of playing Jean Luc Picard because it was one of the things that he does terrifically well.
Patrick StewartRead
Look at the weaknesses of others with compassion, not accusation. It's not what they're not doing or should be doing that's the issue. The issue is your own chosen response to the situation and what you should be doing. If you start to think the problem is "out there," stop yourself. That thought is the problem.
Stephen CoveyRead
Find the sweetness in your own heart, then you may find the sweetness in every heart.
RumiRead
What is strength without a double share of wisdom?
John MiltonRead
Seeking is a necessary preliminary to finding, and one who cannot endure the hardship of inquiry cannot expect to harvest the fruit of knowledge.
John Of SalisburyRead
If you have religious faith, very good, you can add on secular ethics, then religious belief, add on it, very good. But even those people who have no interest about religion, okay, it's not religion, but you can train through education.
Dalai LamaRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.