业荒于嬉

業荒於嬉
yèhuāngyúxī
idiom

Meanings

  1. 1 one's studies / work go to ruin through play
  2. 2 to fail at one's vocation by indulging in amusement

Examples

Gǔrén shuō yèhuāngyúxī, quàn wǒmen yào qínfèn.
The ancients said studies go to ruin through play — they urge us to be diligent.
Tā zhěngtiān wán yóuxì, yèhuāngyúxī, chéngjì zìrán xiàhuá.
He plays games all day — his studies suffer from amusement, so his grades naturally slip.

Tips

history
From Han Yu's 韩愈 essay 《》 (Tang dynasty): '' — 'A vocation is perfected through diligence and ruined through play; conduct is built through reflection and destroyed through following the crowd.' One of the most-quoted lines in classical Chinese on education.
usage
Almost always cited together with its other half (yèjīngyúqín, 'a vocation is perfected through diligence'). Standard exhortation in school speeches and parental lectures.

Stroke Order

huāng