【原文】
子曰：〝譬如為山，未成一簣，止，吾止也。譬如平地，雖覆一簣，進，吾往也。〞
【參考譯文】
孔子說：〝好比用土堆山，只差一筐土就堆成了，如果停下來，山就堆不出來了。又好比用土填坑，雖然剛倒一筐土，只要堅持下去，平地就填出來了。〞
【English Translation】
Confucius said: "Just like the building of a mound, if I choose to stop before the last basket of earth has been poured, the job will never be complete. And just like levelling the ground, even if only one bucketful of earth has been poured in initially, I will progress because I choose to go ahead. "