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学不成名誓不还

學不成名誓不還
xuébùchéngmíngshìbùhuán
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 if my studies win me no name, I swear I will not return
  2. 2 (fig.) the vow of a young man leaving home to pursue achievement at any cost
  3. 3 (lit.) study not-achieve name swear not return

Examples

孩儿立志出乡关，学不成名誓不还，毛主席少年诗气魄雄浑。
Hái ér lì zhì chū xiāngguān, xué bù chéng míng shì bù huán, Máo zhǔxí shàonián shī qìpò xiónghún.
'The boy sets his will and leaves his hometown gate — if study wins no name, I swear I'll not return' — Chairman Mao's youthful poem has heroic breadth.
他离家求学时立下学不成名誓不还的誓言。
Tā lí jiā qiúxué shí lì xià xué bù chéng míng shì bù huán de shìyán.
When he left home to study, he made the vow 'if study wins no name, I swear I'll not return.'

Tips

history
From 毛泽东《七绝·改西乡隆盛诗赠父亲》(Mao Zedong, 1910, age 17), written on leaving his home village of Shaoshan, Hunan for further schooling. Mao adapted a quatrain by Japanese Meiji figure 西乡隆盛 (Saigō Takamori): 孩儿立志出乡关，学不成名誓不还。埋骨何须桑梓地，人生无处不青山 (The boy sets his will and leaves the home gate; if study wins no name, I swear not to return. Why must bones be buried in one's native land? — in life, every place has its green hills). The poem is often quoted on graduation day.
usage
Usually paired with the preceding 孩儿立志出乡关. 还 here = 'to return home' (huán, 2nd tone), NOT 'still / yet' (hái). Compare to the earlier Chinese trope of 不成功便成仁 — Mao's line rewrites the idea for the study-abroad student.

Stroke Order

学 xué
不 bù
成 chéng
名 míng
誓 shì
还 hái