工欲善其事

Gōng yù shàn qí shì

quotation

Meanings

1 an artisan who wants to do his work well - the setup to 'must first sharpen his tools'
2 literally: the craftsman who wishes to do his work well

Characters

artisan / worker

do well / excel at

Examples

HSK 4

工欲善其事，好的参考资料不能省。

Gōngyùshànqíshì, hǎode cānkǎo zīliào bùnéng shěng.

If you want to do the job well, don't skimp on good reference material.

HSK 7-9

工欲善其事，必先利其器，我先把开发环境配好。

Gōngyùshànqíshì, bìxiānlìqíqì, wǒ xiān bǎ kāifā huánjìng pèi hǎo.

An artisan who wants to do his job well first sharpens his tools - let me set up the dev environment first.

Tips

history

Opening half of a famous saying of Confucius in 《论语·卫灵公》 (Analects, Wei Ling Gong): 工欲善其事，必先利其器 - 'An artisan who wants to do his work well must first sharpen his tools.' Zigong had asked about practicing virtue; Confucius answered with this metaphor: to live well among men, first seek out the good and the wise.

usage

Paired couplet - nearly always spoken together with 必先利其器. Functions as the setup clause; the payoff comes in the second half.

Stroke Order

工 gōng

欲 yù

善 shàn

其 qí

事 shì