📖 Meaning
Things that are excessively hard or rigid will break themselves. The idiom serves as a metaphor warning that excessive stiffness and obstinacy in character lead to one's own downfall. It reflects the classical Chinese philosophical principle that extreme rigidity invites destruction.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the philosophical work Xunzi (荀子), composed by the Warring States period thinker Xun Kuang (荀况). In the chapter Exhortation to Learning (劝学), the text states '强自取柱，柔自取束,' where 柱 is read as 折 (to break). The phrase contrasts how hardness leads to self-breaking while softness leads to self-binding, illustrating a Daoist-influenced principle about the danger of excessive rigidity. Over time, the variant reading 强自取折 became a standalone idiom conveying the same lesson.
💡 Example Usage
他性格过于刚硬，终致强自取折，得罪了不少人。
His personality was too rigid, and in the end he brought about his own ruin, offending many people.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 强自取折
- Pinyin: qiáng zì qǔ shé
- Literal Translation: hard, self, invite, break
- Category: Philosophy
- Characters: 4