To achieve maximum results with minimum effort; to get twice the result with half the effort.
Era:
Ancient
Frequency:
Story:
During the Warring States period, the great philosopher Mencius had many disciples. On one occasion, he and his disciple Gongsun Chou discussed the unification of the world.
They began by discussing King Wen of Zhou, noting how King Wen, starting from a small state of only one hundred square li, practiced benevolent governance and thus achieved tremendous success. Today, the common people suffered from constant warfare. Mencius argued that if a large and populous state like Qi were to implement benevolent governance, unifying the world would be much easier compared to the numerous challenges King Wen had encountered.
Mencius concluded by saying, 'Today, if a large state like Qi practices benevolent governance, the people of the world will undoubtedly be immensely pleased, feeling as though their suffering has been alleviated. Therefore, the benevolence bestowed upon the people would only be half of what the ancients offered, yet the results achieved would surely be doubled. Now is truly the opportune moment!'
Later, based on these words spoken by Mencius, people derived the idiom '事半功倍', which is used to describe achieving significant results with minimal effort.