忧国不谋身

憂國不謀身
yōuguóbùmóushēn
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 to worry for the state without scheming for oneself
  2. 2 to care for the nation and put aside personal interests
  3. 3 ideal of the selfless Confucian official

Examples

Gǔdài zhōngchén wǎngwǎng yōu guó bù móu shēn.
Loyal ministers of old often worried for the state without scheming for themselves.
Tā yìshēng yōu guó bù móu shēn, shēn shòu bǎixìng jìngzhòng.
All his life he worried for the country and sought no private gain — deeply respected by the people.

Tips

history
From Han Yu's (韩愈) mid-Tang poem 《途中二十十一二十六学士》: 无名。 — 'Worried for the state and scheming not for myself — I sigh only that I hold no title.' The ideal it expresses runs through the entire scholar-official tradition, echoed later by figures like Fan Zhongyan's '先天'.
usage
Formal and classical, used in essays and editorials about public service. = to scheme for one's own advancement. Contrasts sharply with modern cynicism about self-interested officials.

Stroke Order

yōu
guó
móu
shēn