The Chinese story, halfway abandoned, learning is like weaving, cut in the middle, it will be abandoned

During the Warring States period, there was a virtuous and beautiful woman in Henan, who was the wife of Le Yangzi. Le Yangzi went out to seek a teacher, just the past year, and has not yet learned to return home because he misses his wife.

She was weaving cloth and was very happy to see her husband come back, asking him about his studies. Le Yangzi said: "I have been studying outside for a year, and I have come back because I miss you, and I plan to never leave home again." She was very angry when she heard Le Yangzi's words, picked up a pair of scissors, pointed to the silk on the loom, and said: "The weaving silk is first drawn into silk from the cocoon, then spun into thread, and then woven from the thread into inches, and then accumulated into a ruler, and then accumulated into a ruler, and finally into a horse." If I go down with a pair of scissors now, I will lose all my efforts.

It is a truth that you are studying outside and weaving cloth with me, and when you accumulate knowledge, you should 'learn what you don't understand every day' in order to achieve your virtues. Now that you're halfway back, what's the difference between me cutting the silk on the loom? You should leave home immediately and come back after finishing your studies.

Le Yangzi listened to her words and felt very ashamed, so he went out to study again, this time for seven years, until he finished his studies.

"Halfway abandoned" is a metaphor for things to stop before they are done, not to start and end well, and to do things with a beginning and an end.