工欲善其事

gōngyùshànqíshì

phrase

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

工欲善其事，必先利其器，我先把开发环境配好。

Gōng yù shàn qí shì, bì xiān lì qí qì, 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.

工欲善其事，好的参考资料不能省。

Gōng yù shàn qí shì, hǎo de cānkǎo zīliào bùnéng shěng.

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

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