絹與墨Han Feizi · Original, translation, context
Han Feizi examines what happens when institutions, incentives, experience, and private intention pull in different directions.
《韓非子·說難》
事以密成語以泄敗
Affairs succeed through discretion; words fail through disclosure.
Not every developing matter benefits from immediate exposure. The line is less a praise of secrecy than a warning about timing: speech can release forces before plans are ready to bear them.
《韓非子·顯學》
宰相必起於州部猛將必發於卒伍
A chancellor should rise from local offices; a great general should emerge from the ranks.
Authority gains substance through contact with the work it governs. Experience at lower levels reveals consequences and constraints that titles alone cannot teach.
《韓非子·喻老》
千丈之堤以螻蟻之穴潰
A thousand-zhang dike may collapse through the hole of an ant.
Scale does not make a system immune to neglected details. Small faults become dangerous when they are allowed time, pressure, and repetition; attention is cheapest before damage announces itself.
《韓非子·說林上》
巧詐不如拙誠
Clever deception is not as good as plain sincerity.
Skill can win a moment while undermining the ground needed for the next one. Unpolished honesty may appear less impressive, yet it preserves the trust on which durable cooperation depends.
Continue with more originals, translations, and historical context in Slow Ink.