📖 Meaning
The poorer one's circumstances, the more resolute one's will should be. It describes maintaining unwavering determination and lofty ambition despite hardship and adversity.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the 'Book of Later Han' (后汉书), in the biography of the Eastern Han general Ma Yuan (马援). Ma Yuan declared that a man of ambition should grow more resolute when poor and more vigorous when old. The Tang dynasty poet Wang Bo later immortalized this spirit in his famous 'Preface to the Farewell Banquet at the Pavilion of Prince Teng' (滕王阁序), pairing the idea with 'old but vigorous' to express that neither age nor poverty should diminish one's aspirations.
💡 Example Usage
面对贫困的家境，他穷且益坚，立志要通过读书改变命运。
Faced with a poor family background, he grew only more resolute and resolved to change his fate through study.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 穷且益坚
- Pinyin: qióng qiě yì jiān
- Literal Translation: poor, yet, increasingly, firm
- Category: Determination
- Characters: 4