Believing that to govern a country well you would have to depend on some people, Wei Wenhou asked Gu Juanzi, "Can I depend on my father, son, brother, and liegemen, who all have virtues1 and talents?"

　　Gu Juanzi gave him a negative answer and explained one by one, "Yao was noted2 for being a good father. But his son was exiled. Shun3 was noted for being a filial son, but his father Gu Shou could not tell evil from kind, and his younger brother was arrogant4. Zhou Gong was a sage5, but his elder brother was ordered to be executed by him. Shang Tang and Zhou Wuwang were able liegemen, but they overthrew6 their monarchs8 Xia Jie and Shang Zhou respectively. Those who depend on others can never achieve his goal and will not pervade9 long. If a monarch7 wants to govern his country well, he has to depend on himself."

　　魏文侯認(rèn)為治理國家必須依靠一些人，便問孤卷子：“是否可以信賴有德有才的父親、兒子、哥哥、弟弟、臣下？”

　　孤卷子一一給予否決并解釋說：“堯是有名的閑父，可他的兒子丹珠卻遭到流放，舜是有名的孝子，但他的父親瞽膄卻分不清善惡，他的弟弟也特別傲慢；周公是賢人，然而他的哥哥管叔卻被他處死；商湯和周武王都屬于能臣，他們的君主夏桀和商紂卻被他們打翻。把希望寄托在別人身上的人絕不可能實(shí)現(xiàn)自己的目的，依賴別人的人也長久不了。君主要想治好國家，只能靠自己。”