“The success of all affairs necessarily lies in treating them with care; their failure lies in neglect.” The sentence comes from Xunzi’s “On Military Affairs”. Here, “care” is not timidity but sustained attentiveness, while “neglect” means taking the task lightly. In its original context, Xunzi discusses military command: forethought must precede action and be carried through with care; he then contrasts care overcoming indolence with indolence overcoming care. A modern reading should not reduce every outcome to personal attitude—conditions, resources and chance also matter. Yet familiarity and confidence can quietly remove necessary checks. Care remains valuable as the practice of keeping important work open to verification.
Source: https://ctext.org/text.pl?if=gb&node=12484&remap=gb&show=parallel
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