Preface Written to Send Off Senior Choe, Who Failed the Examination and Goes Roaming West送崔先輩下第西遊序
夫士之求售於有司也。譬之農業。則若先自疑天澤之必不時。地力之必不利。迺不理鎡錤耒耜之具。而便不耕不種曰。是天地也非我也。則可乎。要必磨礪其器用。旣耕之。又繼以耘耨。汲汲欲及時。然後天時地利之不相答。則是天地之咎也。非耕者之罪也。今吾子自妙齡。棲息於書圃。礪舌耕之具。求試於有司。而有司不取。是有司之恥也。非子之恥也。子退焉。益復利其器銳其用。待明有司而較藝。則朝種暮穫。積至千廂。何不稔是懼。吾子勖之。一雁南飛。木葉半脫。送君此時。能不哀哉。白雲居士序。
Let us liken a scholar's seeking to be bought by the examiners to the work of farming. Suppose he first doubted of himself that the bounty of Heaven would surely not come in season and the strength of the earth would surely not be favorable, and so did not put his tools in order, his hoe and his plough, and neither ploughed nor sowed, and said, 「This is the fault of Heaven and earth, not mine」 — would that do? He must grind and trim his tools, and having ploughed go on to weed, striving hard to be in time; and then, if the season of Heaven and the favor of the earth do not answer each other, this is the fault of Heaven and earth, not the crime of the man who tilled.
Now you, from your tender years, have nested in the garden of books and have ground the tools of your tongue's tillage, and you sought the examination from the examiners, and the examiners did not take you: this is the examiners' shame, not your shame. Withdraw, and make your tools yet more serviceable and their use yet sharper, and await a clear-sighted examiner and match your art against others. Then you will sow in the morning and reap in the evening, and your store will come to a thousand granaries; why should you fear that it will not ripen? Put out your strength. A single wild goose flies south, and the leaves of the trees are half fallen. To send you off at such a time — how can one not grieve? The White Cloud Hermit (白雲居士) writes the preface.