When you eat a bowl of porridge or a bowl of rice, you should think about how hard it was to come by.

Meaning: when eating every bowl of porridge and rice, one should think about the hard-won nature of this porridge and rice.

Expanded Information

One porridge, one meal, when thinking of the hard-won;

Half a thread, half a strand, always remembering that things are difficult.

Translated as:For a gruel or a meal, we should think of how hard it is to come by; for half a silk or half a thread of a garment, we should always remember that it is hard to produce these materials.

From "Words on Ruling a Family" (also known as "Zhu Zi's Family Tradition", "Zhu Zi's Words on Ruling a Family", and "Zhu Bailu's Words on Ruling a Family").

The "Zhu Zi Family Trainings" (also known as "Zhu Zi's Words for Ruling the Family" and "Zhu Bailu's Words for Ruling the Family") is an enlightening textbook that focuses on family morality.

With only 525 words, Zhu Zi's Family Trainings eloquently elucidates the way to cultivate oneself and rule one's family, making it a masterpiece of family education. Many of its contents, such as respect for teachers and elders, diligence and thrift, and neighborly harmony, have inherited the best features of traditional Chinese culture and are still relevant today.