Painterly green sapling growing through the centre of a weathered tree stump.

Original artwork, not a still

Confucius

Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Two opposite kinds of certainty are given the same outward result. Refusing to change may reflect exceptional wisdom or exceptional inability to learn, so steadiness alone proves little. The pointed comparison asks the reader to look beyond an unchanged position and consider what keeps a person there.

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