📖 Meaning
When greed for wealth and profit clouds one's heart and mind, it overwhelms reason and conscience. The phrase describes a person so consumed by covetousness that they lose sound judgment and moral restraint.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the poem 'Zengbie Li Ciweng' (A Parting Gift to Li Ciweng) by Huang Tingjian, a celebrated poet and calligrapher of the Northern Song Dynasty. In the line '利欲熏心，随人翕张' he warns that when greed for gain steeps the heart like smoke, a person opens and shuts like a follower, swayed by whoever holds power and advantage. Huang Tingjian used this image to caution against letting covetousness corrupt one's integrity. The phrase later became a standard idiom warning against the moral blindness caused by avarice.
💡 Example Usage
他利欲熏心，竟然背叛了帮助他多年的恩人。
Blinded by greed, he went so far as to betray the benefactor who had helped him for many years.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 利欲熏心
- Pinyin: lì yù xūn xīn
- Literal Translation: profit, desire, smoke, heart
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4