“Though the road is near, without walking one cannot arrive; though the task is small, without acting it cannot be completed.” The sentence comes from the “Self-Cultivation” chapter of Xunzi. The preceding passage contrasts a lame tortoise that eventually reaches a distant place with six fine horses that go nowhere if they do not set out. The difference lies in acting or not acting.
The sentence makes action a necessary condition, not a promise that merely starting guarantees success. Today it can expose a quiet form of delay: the problem is already small and the path reasonably clear, yet we remain within preparation and intention. Once we move, we must still judge whether the method is sound and the conditions sufficient.
https://ctext.org/xunzi/xiu-shen/zh
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