Some people may have heard this command: success only, no failure.
The saying came from the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang Uprising. The armies led by Xiang Yu and Liu Bang grew ever stronger. Later, Xiang Yu met the main Qin force led by the Qin general Zhang Han at Julu. Xiang Yu smashed his cooking pots and sank his boats, fighting with his back to the river: "Success only, no failure."
Failure left no possibility of surrendering and living on. Back when Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rose in rebellion, it was because torrential rain had delayed them. Under the Qin Legal Code, they would have been beheaded, so they raised an army and rebelled.
The saying traveled and traveled until it reached the West. Losers were mocked and ridiculed, never pitied, and no one reflected on the lessons of their failures. Instead, inspirational stories could stir the "light" in people's hearts. Even when those successful experiences could not be replicated, people still tried to follow them, and all kinds of inspirational success books sold like hotcakes.
A mirage was an optical phenomenon. It could make people see beautiful visions, such as an oasis, or a mansion and luxury car. If travelers fell for it and chased the illusion, sooner or later they would die of thirst and exhaustion in the desert—or like the horses during Napoleon's retreat from Jaffa to Cairo, drink salt water and die of thirst.
Good advice could not save those determined to die. Back then, no more than the priests could stop the SA and SS from charging into the Habsburg tombs; they could only watch them loot. All they could do was pray for the coffin carrying the King of Rome. Making monks into tomb guards could only keep out civilized people. The