Mencius was a wise and kind person who by no means would compromise with evil.

Living close to a cemetery when he was a kid, Mencius often staged the rites which he saw in funeral processions or burial services for amusement. Mother Meng said, “This is not the place I would like to raise my son.”

So they moved to live next to a marketplace. Then Mencius began to imitate merchants hawking wares. “This is not the place I would like to raise my son, either” said his mother.

In the end they settled down near a school. Inspired by what he saw and heard, Mencius naturally started to imitate the courtesy behavior and study habits of the students. Observing this, Mother Meng joyfully said, “This is the place where my son should live from now on.”

Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai, a child does not like reading. One day, the teacher is not in the house, quietly sneak out to play.

He came to a small river mountain, see an old woman, in the stone grinding an iron pestle. Li Bai was very puzzled, asked: "the old lady, what do you Tiechu?"

The old woman said: "I was grinding." Li Bai surprised to ask: "oh! Tiechu so thick, how can a needle?" The wife said with a smile: "as long as every day more grinding mill Tiechu always thinner, even not a needle grinding?"

Clever Li Bai after listen to, think of themselves, ashamed heart, turned around and ran back to the house. From then on, he kept in mind "Little strokes fell great oaks. Zhen" truth, hard study.

唐朝大诗人李白，小时候不喜欢读书。一天，乘老师不在屋，悄悄溜出门去玩儿。

他来到山下小河边，见一位老婆婆，在石头上磨一根铁杵。李白很纳闷，上前问：“老婆婆，您磨铁杵做什么？”

老婆婆说：“我在磨针。”李白吃惊地问：“哎呀！铁杵这么粗大，怎么能磨成针呢？”老婆婆笑呵呵地说：“只要天天磨铁杵总能越磨越细，还怕磨不成针吗？”

聪明的李白听后，想到自己，心中惭愧，转身跑回了书屋。从此，他牢记“只要功夫深，铁杵磨成针”的道理，发奋读书。