Fill your cup with tea,
but if you put in too much, you'll slosh, and waste it and burn yourself.
Keep your tools sharp,
But over hone them, and they will wear away.
Gather what you need,
But excessive wealth breeds envy and theft.
Be proud of your accomplishments,
But boasting invites criticism.
When it's good enough, don't try again for perfection.
Wisdom resides in contentment with sufficiency.
Give her the bells and let her fly.
Don't throw good money after bad; make the best of the matter, but do not attempt to bolster it up. The metaphor is from falconry; when a hawk was worthless the bird was suffered to escape, even at the expense of the bells attached to her.
-Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1963, p. 90.
5 comments:
mmm hard one this. Speaking as someone wrestling with a musical instrument, I dont think enough will ever be enough. I cant wait to find time to caress those piano keys even to the neglect of other duties. But perhaps we are talking obssession here...
I like "give her bells and let her fly"
better than "if you are in a hole, stop digging" !!
I'm loving these Tao te ching writings. Gotta keep that pencil point sharpened just enough or it'll break.
Rosie,
Practice I don't think is being addressed here. More like, if you know you only play so well, accept that you are probably not going to be a concert pianist, and be happy with just getting better.
gz,
I rather like, "If you are going through hell, keep going."
Rou,
Oh, I like that one. A needle point pencil isn't going to remain so long.
We read 'Your Money or Your Life' in our book group some years ago. The authors had an entire section on the book about being satisfied with what you have. Ever since reading that book I have been trying to keep that in mind, with limited but non-trivial success.
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