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

齐桓公出游途中，来到已经灭亡许久的郭氏都城的废墟。

看到瓦砾残垣、杂草丛生的萧条景象，忍不住问当地百姓郭氏灭亡的原因。

百姓们回答说："郭氏由于喜爱善行善事。厌恶邪恶丑行而导致灭亡。"

齐桓公不能理解这种回答，百姓们便解释说："郭氏虽然喜爱善行善事，但从来都不能做到;尽管厌恶邪恶丑行，却总是忍不住参与其中。这就是他的都城变成废墟的原因。"