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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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

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A little wisdom, now and then

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