Translation: There was a man who stole a chicken from his neighbor’s house every day. Someone advised him, “This is not the morality of a person with upright behavior and noble character.” He replied, “Then let me reduce this behavior and steal a chicken every month. I will not steal next year.” If you know that stealing chickens is wrong, you should correct it immediately. Why wait until next year?
译文：从前有一个每天都要偷邻居家一只鸡的人。有人劝告他说：“这不是行为端正、品德高尚的人所拥有的道德。”他回答说：“那就让我减少这种行为吧，(以后)每个月偷一只鸡，等到明年我就不偷了。”如果知道偷鸡不对，就应该马上改正，为什么还要等到明年呢。
《古代寓言·拔苗助长》
宋人有闵其苗之不长而揠之者。
芒芒然归，谓其人曰：“今日病矣！予助苗长矣。”
其子趋而往视之，苗则槁矣。
——天下之不助苗长者寡矣：以为无益而舍之者，不耘苗者也；助之长者，揠苗者也。非徒无益，而又害之。
——《孟子》
Helping Young Shoots to Grow
A man in the state of Song felt the shoots in his fields were not growing fast enough. So he pulled them all up, then went home quite exhausted.
“I’m tired out today,” he told his family. “I’ve been helping the young shoots to grow.”
His son ran out to the fields to have a look, and found all their seedlings were dead.
Most people would like to help young shoots to grow; but some think all efforts useless and make no attempt, not even weeding the fields; others try to help the shoots grow by pulling them up. This, of course, is worse than useless.
Mencius
