📖 Meaning
When happiness reaches its extreme, sorrow inevitably follows. It describes the transition from peak joy to sadness, reflecting the idea that emotions and fortune are cyclical in nature. It is a variant of the more common idiom 乐极生悲.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom is a variant expression of the well-known phrase 乐极生悲 (extreme joy begets sorrow), a concept rooted in classical Chinese philosophy about the balance and cyclicality of emotions. The underlying idea appears in texts dating back to the Han dynasty and earlier, where philosophers observed that extremes naturally reverse. No single definitive origin story is attributed to this exact phrasing. It conveys the same wisdom found in Daoist and Confucian thought about moderation and the interplay of yin and yang.
💡 Example Usage
庆功宴上众人欢声笑语，谁知乐尽悲来，一场意外打破了所有的喜悦。
Everyone was laughing and cheering at the celebration banquet, but joy turned to sorrow when an unexpected accident shattered all the happiness.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 乐尽悲来
- Pinyin: lè jìn bēi lái
- Literal Translation: joy, exhausted, sorrow, comes
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4