📖 Meaning
Advancing and retreating both follow a fixed pattern or law. It describes acting with discipline, proper timing, and a steady rhythm rather than impulsively. The idiom conveys that all actions should accord with natural rules and order.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the text He Guan Zi (鹖冠子), a work from the Warring States period attributed to the philosopher He Guan Zi. In the chapter 'Tai Hong Shi' (泰鸿十), the author observes that the sun rises and sets reliably and the moon waxes and wanes on schedule, stating that they 'advance and retreat with regularity.' The passage uses these celestial cycles as metaphors to illustrate that natural phenomena follow fixed laws, and by extension human affairs should also observe proper order and timing.
💡 Example Usage
他为人处世进退有常，从不贸然行事。
He conducts himself with steady discipline, never acting rashly.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 进退有常
- Pinyin: jìn tuì yǒu cháng
- Literal Translation: advance, retreat, have, regularity
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4