Priceless Advice

A king was on a boat ride with his entire court for a day of sight-seeing.

The king pondered, “I conquered LD’s country and had confined him under supervision for quite a while. Now his children are grown up. One of his sons snuck out and left the country. Does anyone know of his whereabouts?”

Everyone was silent.

The boat rower put down his oars and asked, “Why does your Highness ask?”

The king said, “That family must resent me quite a bit. The younger generation is probably thinking of revenge.”

The boatman said, “If your Highness skillfully improves upon your government policies so that your officials are happy and your people are content, how can that family do anything to you? On the other hand, if your policies are unjust and ineffective, inside your officials will disagree with you and outside your people will disapprove of you; then all those present on this boat will be more dangerous than LD’s children.”

The king said approvingly, “You are so right!”

The following day, the king orders the boat rower to court and bestows upon him ten thousand acres of farm land. However the boat man did not accept.

The king laughed, “Ten thousand acres in exchange for your advice, you still are not compensated enough while I am far better off. You should take the land.”

* * * * *

If you are afraid of revenge then do not harm others.

You can kill or harm a person’s body but you cannot kill his spirit.

When you are truly strong and powerful, even your most powerful enemies are no longer scary.

When you are virtuous, those who are evil can do you no harm. When you are unvirtuous, your worst enemies are from within.

Savvy people often seek advice from the wise ones.

​Effective people are fair and offer proper rewards to those with merit.