大馬之捶鉤者，年八十矣，而不失豪芒。
大馬曰：“子巧與？有道與？”
曰：“臣有守也。臣之年二十而好捶鉤，於物無視也，非鉤無察也。是用之者，假不用者也以長得其用，而況乎無不用者乎！物孰不資焉？”
大馬曰：“子巧與？有道與？”
曰：“臣有守也。臣之年二十而好捶鉤，於物無視也，非鉤無察也。是用之者，假不用者也以長得其用，而況乎無不用者乎！物孰不資焉？”
"The forger of swords for the Minister of War had reached the age of eighty, and had not lost a hair's-breadth of his ability.
The Minister said to him, 'You are indeed skillful, Sir. Have you any method that makes you so?'
The man said, 'Your servant has (always) kept to his work. When I was twenty, I was fond of forging swords. I looked at nothing else. I paid no attention to anything but swords. By my constant practice of it, I came to be able to do the work without any thought of what I was doing. By length of time one acquires ability at any art; and how much more one who is ever at work on it! What is there which does not depend on this, and succeed by it?'"
Unless noted otherwise, all quotations of classical texts and accompanying translations come from the Chinese Text Project
The Minister said to him, 'You are indeed skillful, Sir. Have you any method that makes you so?'
The man said, 'Your servant has (always) kept to his work. When I was twenty, I was fond of forging swords. I looked at nothing else. I paid no attention to anything but swords. By my constant practice of it, I came to be able to do the work without any thought of what I was doing. By length of time one acquires ability at any art; and how much more one who is ever at work on it! What is there which does not depend on this, and succeed by it?'"
Unless noted otherwise, all quotations of classical texts and accompanying translations come from the Chinese Text Project
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