How to Read “Those who judge great achievements do not record small faults”
Taikō wo ronzuru mono wa shōka wo rokusezu
Meaning of “Those who judge great achievements do not record small faults”
This proverb means that when evaluating great achievements, you should not focus on small mistakes. When judging someone, you should look at their major accomplishments rather than dwelling on minor flaws or errors.
This saying is used when evaluating subordinates or colleagues at work, or when discussing historical figures.
For example, if someone achieved great success on a project but made small mistakes along the way, it would be inappropriate to criticize those minor failures.
This expression reminds us that no one is perfect. It emphasizes the importance of judging things from a broad perspective.
Even today, in performance reviews and talent evaluation, focusing on overall contributions rather than getting caught up in small flaws leads to fair and constructive assessment.
Origin and Etymology
This proverb is believed to originate from ancient Chinese classics. The most likely source is the “Records of the Grand Historian” written by Sima Qian, a historian from the Han Dynasty.
“Taikō” means great achievement, “ronzuru” means to evaluate, “shōka” means small fault, and “rokusezu” means not to record or not to make an issue of.
The structure uses parallel phrasing, contrasting “great” with “small” and “achievement” with “fault.” This parallel structure is characteristic of classical Chinese literature, showing that this proverb inherits the tradition of Chinese literary style.
In ancient China, this way of thinking was valued as a standard for rulers evaluating their subjects.
Even if someone who achieved great results had minor failures, those should not be held against them. This was a philosophy of talent management.
It reflects a realistic view of human nature—that perfect people don’t exist—and the wisdom of governance that one should judge matters from a broad perspective.
This wisdom is condensed into these few words. In Japan, this proverb became widely known from the Edo period onward as a saying about leadership and character evaluation.
Usage Examples
- He brought huge profits to the company, so following “Those who judge great achievements do not record small faults,” we should overlook his late document submissions
- That coach led the team to victory, so true to “Those who judge great achievements do not record small faults,” criticizing minor tactical mistakes isn’t fair
Universal Wisdom
The universal wisdom in this proverb lies in its tolerance—acknowledging human imperfection while still finding value in people.
We humans are all imperfect. Even the most outstanding people have flaws and failures somewhere. Yet human society has progressed because imperfect individuals have contributed by using their strengths.
This proverb has been passed down through generations because it sharply points out a trap in human psychology when evaluating others.
We tend to react sensitively to others’ faults while taking their achievements for granted. Small failures stick in memory easily, while great successes are forgotten over time.
This psychological bias prevents fair evaluation.
Our ancestors understood this human nature. They taught us that truly valuable judgment means seeing the big picture and discerning the essence, not being distracted by small flaws before our eyes.
This isn’t just tolerance. It’s the wisdom to distinguish what matters from what doesn’t, and a practical guideline for keeping organizations and society healthy.
When AI Hears This
When the human brain evaluates someone, it actually faces the same problem as communication technology. That problem is “what to keep and what to discard with limited capacity.”
Think about sending photos on your smartphone. You compress the image, right? Even if the original photo is 10 megabytes, it gets reduced to 1 megabyte for transmission.
At this point, fine noise and subtle color differences that aren’t important to the human eye get deleted. This is called lossy compression.
Perfect reproduction is impossible, but essential information—”who’s in the photo” and “what they’re doing”—is preserved.
The human evaluation system works on the same principle. There’s a limit to how much information you can remember about a person. Brain capacity is finite.
When a strong signal like “saved the company” and weak noise like “was late three times” coexist, the brain automatically calculates the signal-to-noise ratio.
If the importance of the achievement is overwhelmingly high, small faults are judged to have low information value and get deleted from memory.
What’s interesting is that if you try to record even small faults perfectly, judgment accuracy actually decreases.
In AI machine learning, when you learn even the fine noise in training data, a problem called “overfitting” occurs. The ability to see the essence is lost.
In other words, the proper way of discarding information creates accurate evaluation. This proverb puts into words this sophisticated compression algorithm that the human cognitive system possesses.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches modern people how to maintain perspective when in a position to evaluate others.
In daily life, we stand in positions to evaluate various people—family, friends, colleagues. At those times, aren’t we focusing only on flaws and failures that catch our eye?
In modern society, with the spread of social media, people’s small mistakes get instantly shared and become targets of criticism.
However, denying someone’s past contributions and achievements based on one slip of the tongue or failure is far too shortsighted.
This proverb reminds us of the importance of maintaining a broader perspective against such trends.
When you’re in a position to evaluate someone, remember these words. Properly recognizing the magnitude of what someone has accomplished and being tolerant of small flaws is not indulgence.
It’s the ability to discern a person’s essence and becomes the foundation for building trust relationships.
Having a fair and warm gaze also leads to your own personal growth as a human being.
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