Dúshūrén jiǎng qìjié, zìgǔ biàn yǒu ān néng cuī méi zhé yāo shì quánguì de fēnggǔ.
Scholars have always prized integrity — the backbone expressed in 'how could I bow and bend to serve the powerful?'
Tips
history
From 李白《梦游天姥吟留别》(Li Bai, Tang, 745 CE), the poem's closing outburst after his ejection from the imperial court: 世间行乐亦如此，古来万事东流水。别君去兮何时还？且放白鹿青崖间，须行即骑访名山。安能摧眉折腰事权贵，使我不得开心颜！(Worldly pleasures are just like this; from of old all things flow east like water... how could I lower my brow and bend my waist to serve the powerful, and never again be free to smile?). The line became the canonical motto of literati defiance.
usage
Usually followed by 使我不得开心颜 — the two lines are inseparable. 摧眉 literally 'to crush the brow' = to lower one's face in submission; 折腰 (bend at the waist) famously alludes to Tao Yuanming's refusal to 'bend his waist for five pecks of rice.'
