Jiao Hong (焦竑)

1540–1620 · Ming-dynasty Chinese scholar, philosopher & historian

Jiao Hong was a scholar-official of the late Ming dynasty who placed first (zhuangyuan) in the 1589 imperial examination and served in the Hanlin Academy. A philosopher and historian, he compiled the biographical collection Guochao xianzheng lu, regarded as an important supplement to the official History of Ming. Wikiquote credits the “diamond with a flaw” saying to him; in English the proverb has long circulated anonymously, as Trench recorded it in 1853.

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1 quote we’ve traced

“Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without”

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