錐·馬·牛

VW made a comment on my blog on 15th April - but the quote was too ahead of its time and seems more relevant to my discussion on the following days.

His citation was a famous one: 人之有異能於其身，猶錐之在囊，其末立見。

For those who are not familiar with Chinese literature, the citation comes from Cai Lun (材論) of Wang Anshi (王安石). This classic essay begins like this: 天下之患，不患材之不眾，患上之人不欲其眾；不患士之不為，患上之人不使其為也。

The whole sentence of VW's quote should be: 世之蔽者方曰 "人之有異能於其身，猶錐之在囊，其末立見，故未有有其實而不可見者也。" 此徒有見於錐之在囊，而固未睹夫馬之在廄也。

Yes, there are quite many horses hidden in stables, but I would add a further story:

(周)瑜卒，(龐)統送喪至吳，吳人多聞其名。及當西返，並會昌門，陸績、顧劭、全琮皆往。統曰："陸子可謂駑馬有逸足之力，顧子可謂駑牛能負重致遠也。"
或問統曰： "如所言，陸子為勝乎？"
統曰： "駑馬雖精，所致一人耳；駑牛一日行三百里，所致豈一人之重哉？"
(世說新語箋疏, 中卷下, 品藻第九)

Alas, there are many good horses hidden in stables, but there are even more excellent cows we missed because they seem humble and concentrate on their work.