见利忘义

見利忘義

jiànlì-wàngyì

idiom

Meanings

1 to abandon moral principles for profit
2 to forget righteousness at the sight of gain

Characters

Examples

他见利忘义，出卖了朋友。

Tā jiànlìwàngyì, chūmài le péngyǒu.

He betrayed his friend out of greed.

做生意不能见利忘义。

Zuòshēngyì bùnéng jiànlìwàngyì.

In business, you can't ditch ethics the moment profit appears.

Tips

history

From 《汉书·樊郦滕灌傅靳周传》 — 'selling out a friend is called seeing profit and forgetting righteousness.' The idiom preserves the Han-era moral contrast between 义 and 利.

Stroke Order

见 jiàn

利 lì

忘 wàng

义 yì