"People who follow the fashion all day long gain the joy of ignorance, but lose the truth of the Tao" means that you will find that the joy you get is the joy of ignorance, but the important part of yourself is lost.

from Qing Zeng Guofan's "Fu Liu Rong" in the first month of the ninth year of Xianfeng: the original text: "'Those who follow the times are ignorant and lose the truth of Tao." I'd like to be honored as a book gentleman. My teeth are getting old, but I want to pitch an orange blossom. As the saying goes, "If you don't get the national power, you will lose your step". Since it is appropriate to keep my stupidity, I don't want to please others, and I expect it from my deputy comrades. "

Translation:" People who follow the trend win the joy of being ignorant, and the damage is the sincerity of sticking to the main road. " These two sentences should be written on the gentry belt and hung around all the time to warn themselves. I'm old, and I'm willing to follow the example of the orange tree that draws water, so as not to end up with the irony that I have lost my original pace instead of learning the strengths of other countries. I feel that I still have to keep my usual clumsiness and not please others at will, in order to meet the high hopes of my fellow travelers.

Anecdotal allusion:

Zeng Guofan is quite insightful about the way of making friends. He thinks that making friends is expensive and generous, and it is necessary to "push sincerity and keep integrity, and compromise contains macro, but selfless suspicion." "Don't take advantage of people at all. Don't take people's money lightly. " Brainstorm, listen and not be deaf. In terms of life, Zeng Guofan believes that "in this troubled times, the poorer the better." Being a senior official, "it is always better to have less money and produce less."

"Patience is the first priority for officials", "Virtue is full at the expense, and happiness is arrogant at the expense". A man must be careful on the word "light". "It's not especially rich and famous, and the prosperity of his family name is determined by heaven, that is, whether the virtue of learning is established or not is mostly related to heaven, so laugh and forget it." "You don't have to do your own work, you don't have to do your own fame", "The sooner you retire, the better".

Zhihu-Zeng Guofan said: "Those who follow the times are ignorant and happy, and the truth of Tao is damaged"