An old saying goes: "You have been in a house of orchids for a long time without smelling their fragrance; you have been in a house with abalones for a long time without smelling their smell." Let’s t

An old saying goes: "You have been in a house of orchids for a long time without smelling their fragrance; you have been in a house with abalones for a long time without smelling their smell." Let’s talk about the meaning of this sentence.

The whole sentence comes from the "Book of the Later Han" written by Liu Xiang of the Western Han Dynasty: "Living with good people is like entering a house of orchid, and you will not smell its fragrance for a long time; living with evil people is like entering a house of abalone, and you will not smell it for a long time." "Smell the smell" means as follows:

Living with noble people is like entering a house filled with the fragrance of orchids. Over time, you will be filled with the fragrance due to edification, so you will no longer be able to smell it. I smell the fragrance of orchids; living with low-quality people is like entering a market selling abalone. As time goes by, even I become smelly, and I no longer feel that abalone is smelly. Explain that the environment can change a person.

Related explanation

The one who is close to vermilion is red, the one who is close to ink is black, pinyin jìn zhū zhě chì, jìn mò zhě hēi comes from: Therefore, the one who is close to vermillion is red, the one who is close to ink is black; the sound is jìn zhū zhě chì, jìn mò zhě hēi. Harmony makes the sound clear, and shape makes the effect straight. Jin Dynasty Fu Xuan's "The Prince's Young Master's Proverbs" relies on cinnabar to turn red, and relies on ink to turn black. It is a metaphor that getting close to good people will make you become good, and getting close to bad people will make you become bad.

Fu Xuan, a writer and philosopher of the Jin Dynasty, pointed out in "Prince Shaofu's Admonitions": "The one who is close to Zhu is red, and the one who is close to ink is black; the sound is harmonious and the sound is clear, and the shape is straight." told When people live in a good environment, they will be affected by good things, and when they live in a bad environment, they will also be affected by bad effects. It emphasizes the impact of the environment on people.