Chuàngyèzhě de jīngshén zhèng rú lì gēn yuán zài pò yán zhōng, yuè jiānkǔ yuè jiānrèn.
An entrepreneur's spirit is like 'setting roots in split rock' — the harder it is, the tougher they grow.
Tips
history
From Zheng Banqiao's (郑板桥, Qing dynasty) 《竹石》: 咬定青山不放松，立根原在破岩中。千磨万击还坚劲，任尔东西南北风 — 'It bites into the green mountain and will not let go; its roots were planted in split rock from the start. A thousand grindings and ten thousand strikes only harden it — blow as you will, east, west, south or north wind.' Zheng Banqiao was one of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, famous for painting bamboo as a self-portrait.
usage
原 here is 原本/本来 ('all along / originally'), not 'plain / source.' 破岩 = 'split rock.' Always quoted with its lead-in 咬定青山不放松. The whole quatrain is the national metaphor for principled resilience and hangs in Chinese classrooms worldwide.
