Emperor Taizong of Song was one of the most studious rulers in Chinese history. Every day, without exception, he read three volumes of the Imperial Encyclopedia. When affairs of state forced him to miss a day, he made up the lost reading on his days off.
His ministers worried: "Your Majesty works so hard governing the empire, and then reads so much — are you not exhausting yourself?"
The emperor smiled: "Opening a book is always beneficial. I do not consider it labor."
The phrase "开卷有益" — "opening a scroll, there is always benefit" — became a Chinese proverb meaning that any reading, no matter how casual, adds something to the reader.
太宗日阅《御览》三卷，因事有阙，暇日追补之。尝曰：「开卷有益，朕不以为劳也。」
太宗日阅《御览》三卷，因事有阙，暇日追补之。尝曰：「开卷有益，朕不以为劳也。」
Reflection & Analysis · 寓意解读
Core Wisdom
No reading is wasted. Every page you turn, every line you absorb, adds a grain of sand to the mountain of your understanding. The habit of reading is its own reward.
Emperor Taizong's statement is deceptively simple. He is not claiming that every book is equally valuable — he is claiming that the act of reading is inherently beneficial. This is a statement about intellectual posture: the reader who approaches any text with openness will always find something worth keeping.
In an age of information overload and curated content, this old wisdom is refreshing. The emperor did not have a reading list, a book club, or a recommendation algorithm. He simply opened the next volume and read. The discipline was in the habit, not in the selection.