On a vacation trip, Duke Huan of the state of Qi came to the ruin of the capital of Guo Shi , which perished long ago.
Seeing the desolate and bleak prospects of broken tiles, collapsed walls, and clusters of weeds, he could not help asking the local people about the reason of the ruin of Guo Shi.
They replied,"Guo Shi was fond of doing good deeds, and averse to evildoing, which led to the perdition."
When the Duke could not understand the answer, people explained ," Though he liked doing good, he had never been able to do so; though he hated evildoing, never could he help not participating. That caused the ruin of his capital."
郭氏之墟
齊桓公出遊途中，來到已經滅亡許久的郭氏都城的廢墟。
看到瓦礫殘垣、雜草叢生的蕭條景象，忍不住問當地百姓郭氏滅亡的原因。
百姓們回答說："郭氏由於喜愛善行善事。厭惡邪惡醜行而導致滅亡。"
齊桓公不能理解這種回答，百姓們便解釋說："郭氏雖然喜愛善行善事，但從來都不能做到;儘管厭惡邪惡醜行，卻總是忍不住參與其中。這就是他的都城變成廢墟的原因。"