A Warning
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名與身孰親？身與貨孰多？得與亡孰病？甚愛必大費，多藏必厚亡。知足不辱，知止不殆，可以長久。
Fame or your body: which is dearer? Your body or your goods: which counts for more? Gaining or losing: which is the harm? Loving too much will surely cost greatly; hoarding much will surely lose heavily. Know what is enough, and you are not disgraced; know when to stop, and you are not in danger. So you can last long.
Three blunt questions about fame, wealth and health, answered by the chapter's own advice: know when you have enough.
The three questions answer themselves. Asked this starkly, no reasonable person would rank fame or goods above their own body.
Heshang Gong reads “knowing enough” and “knowing when to stop” as a matched pair of practical disciplines rather than abstract virtues. The first keeps a person from grasping past the point of shame, the second from pushing past the point of danger, and together they are what actually lets someone last.
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