Idioms, original meanings, figurative meanings and allusions similar to fools' salt (source)

There are two stories in The Analects of Confucius, a Buddhist literary work: One is "Fools Eat Salt", which tells that there was once a fool who went to other people's house to eat vegetables, but it was boring. After the owner knew it, he added a little salt to it, which made it delicious. Then he thought, it tastes good because of the salt. A little salt will be delicious. Wouldn't it be better to add more? So he ate a lot of salt, and the result was bitter and astringent. The other book is "Fools Eat Cakes", which tells that once a person was hungry and wolfed down a piece of cake. He doesn't feel full. He ate five cakes in a row, but he was still not full. So he ate the seventh cake, and just halfway through, he felt full. Men regret it very much and think; I'm full today, because I ate this half cake, and all the six I ate before were wasted. If I had known that I would be full after eating this half cake, I would have eaten this half cake first.

Of course, these two stories are jokes, and people will never do such stupid things again, but the philosophy contained in them will always inspire people. The protagonists of these two stories both made the same mistake, namely metaphysics. Specifically, "fools eat salt" does not understand that people should eat salt in moderation. A certain amount of salt will make food taste delicious, but if it is excessive, it will become bitter. Although "fools eat cakes" and "fools eat salt" are different, they don't understand that quantitative change will cause qualitative change to a certain extent. His mind is full of cakes. In itself, it is the accumulation process of the amount of cakes eaten bite by bite. Eating enough is not only the function of the second half of the cake, but the function of all the cakes eaten. The second half of the cake is just the joint point from quantitative change to qualitative change. He doesn't understand this, just like "fools eat salt", he only sees one aspect of qualitative change and quantitative change, which separates the dialectical relationship between them. They only emphasize and see quantitative changes without qualitative changes; On the other hand, only recognizing the qualitative change, but not seeing the quantitative change, is a metaphysics that separates the dialectical relationship between quantitative change and qualitative change. This way of thinking is extremely harmful in our actual work and life.

This is what we do in our daily work. Only by doing daily work well and putting work responsibilities in place can the work be effective. Over time, we will develop good work habits, and our work is also a process from quantitative change to qualitative change.

The same is true in our daily life. We should develop good eating habits, eat three meals a day, go to bed early and get up early, quit smoking and drinking, and keep a good attitude. Only in this way can we have a healthy body, and good living habits are also a process from quantitative change to qualitative change.

The same is true in our daily study. If we persist in studying every day and persist for a long time, our knowledge will be accumulated and updated, thus enriching our knowledge and culture and helping and promoting our work to some extent. Good study habits are also a process from quantitative change to qualitative change.

We will do this again after work. Persisting in exercise every day will promote the healthy circulation of the body, enhance the metabolic function of the body, obviously enhance physical fitness, and make the health index more up to standard. So exercise is a gradual process for human health, and it is also a process from quantitative change to qualitative change.