Bao Shuya

鲍叔牙

In Chinese culture Bao Shuya is known mainly for his loyalty to his friend,  as well as his open-mindedness and tolerant and his judgement of ability; Guan Zhong's political career and the subsequent power of the state of Qi arguably began from Bao's belief in his friend's talent, which he stood by firmly. The Shiji records a quote from Guan regarding his lifelong friend and supporter:

在中国文化中，鲍叔牙因其对朋友的忠诚、处事开明、审时度势的能力而著名。正是因为鲍叔牙对管仲才华的推崇和坚持，才有了后者的政治生涯及齐国实力的强大。《史记》曾援引了管仲形容其一生的朋友和支持者鲍叔牙的一段话:

 "When Bao and I did business together I would take more profits for myself; he did not deem me greedy,  but understood my poverty; when I came up with business ideas that incurred losses he did not deem me foolish, but put it down to business fluctuations. When I asked for audiences with lords thrice and was thrice rejected he did not deem me useless, but put it down to lack of opportunity; when I fled from battle thrice he did not deem me cowardly, but understood I had an ailing mother at home. When Prince Jiu was killed I was jailed and disgraced, and endured it; he did not deem me shameless, but knew I had greater ambitions. My parents gave birth to me,  but it is Bao who knows me best."

“我当初贫穷时，曾和鲍叔一起做生意，分钱财，自己多拿，鲍叔不认为我贪财，他知道我贫穷啊!我曾经替鲍叔办事，结果使他处境更难了，鲍叔不认为我愚蠢，他知道时运有利有不利。我曾经三次做官，三次被国君辞退，鲍叔不认为我没有才能，他知道我没有遇到时机。我曾经三次作战，三次逃跑，鲍叔不认为我胆怯，他知道我家里有老母亲。公子纠失败了，召忽为之而死，我却被囚受辱，鲍叔不认为我不懂得羞耻，他知道我不以小节为羞，而是以功名没有显露于天下为耻。生我的是父母，了解我的是鲍叔啊!”