📖 Meaning
To seek to save one's own life when encountering danger or difficulty, without regard for principle or duty. It describes someone who selfishly flees from trouble rather than standing firm. The term carries a strong pejorative connotation of cowardice and lack of moral integrity.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the Confucian classic 『礼记·曲礼上』 (Book of Rites, chapter Qu Li I), which records the moral injunction 『临难毋苟免』 — meaning that when confronting danger, one should not try to escape in a cowardly manner. The text, traditionally attributed to disciples and later scholars of the Zhou dynasty, lays down behavioral norms for a junzi (gentleman), stressing courage and righteousness over self-preservation. Over time, the negative imperative 『毋苟免』 was dropped in everyday usage, turning the injunction into the descriptive idiom 『临难苟免』 used to condemn those who abandon duty to save themselves.
💡 Example Usage
在国家危亡之际，他不愿临难苟免，毅然挺身而出。
At a time of national peril, he refused to save himself by cowardly fleeing and instead stepped forward resolutely.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 临难苟免
- Pinyin: lín nàn gǒu miǎn
- Literal Translation: face, disaster, cowardly, escape
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4