Hacker News Reader

There was this Chinese proverb from this kung fu manual this old martial arts school printed that I used to go to. I had this saying "invest in loss". I immediately fell in love with that saying but every time I go to cross reference it online I never hit anything. Is anyone familiar with that Chinese proverb?

View on HN

Could it be something like "failure is the mother of success"?

(失败乃成功之母)

I am no expert, I was curious myself and went down an internet-sleuthing rabbit-hole. Apparently this is a common phrase, but I am not fluent in Mandarin, so cum grano salis.

That sounds like a close cousin for sure. It’s hard to tell because it was in English but maybe the Chinese was in small script below. I don’t know if I still have that manual either, it may have been destroyed in one of these boxes that got left out in the rain. I’ll try to look for it next time I’m digging around the attic.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com