Since philosophy finds it hard to become a dazzling pearl or a brilliant gemstone, why not be an ordinary string—one that threads together those great pearls and turns them into a harmonious, beautiful pearl necklace? Each pearl is worth a fortune, while a string seems to be worth nothing at all. Once strung into a necklace, what people see are only the pearls, and the string can no longer be seen. And yet a well-coordinated pearl necklace is worth more than selling the pearls off one by one after taking it apart—the extra value, after all, is provided by the string.
December 10, 2005
Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.
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