About

There was a farmer of Sung who tilled the land, and in his field was a stump. One day a rabbit, racing across the field, bumped into the stump, broke its neck, and died. Thereupon the farmer laid aside his plow and took up watch beside the stump, hoping that he would get another rabbit in the same way. But he got no more rabbits, and instead became the laughing stock of Sung. Those who think they can take the ways of the ancient kings and use them to govern the people of today all belong in the category of stump-watchers!

-Han Fei Tzu, The Five Vermin, Section 49

§ One Response to About

  • Trow Ling Hu says:

    But the farmer misinterpreted the ways of the ancient kings. They were not stump-watchers, but stump-makers.

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