📖 Meaning
To praise and promote what is good and virtuous, while correcting and remedying what is wrong. It describes the ideal conduct of a loyal minister or advisor who encourages a ruler's good qualities and rectifies their faults. The idiom embodies the Confucian principle of balanced, principled service.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Classic of Filial Piety (《孝经·事君》), where Confucius explains how a gentleman serves his sovereign. He states that when advancing in office, the gentleman devotes himself fully to loyalty; when withdrawing, he reflects on how to remedy his own shortcomings. He follows along with the ruler's good deeds and corrects the ruler's bad ones. The phrase '顺其美，匡救其恶' was later condensed into the four-character idiom '顺美匡恶'. It became a classical standard for ethical statecraft in imperial China.
💡 Example Usage
为臣者当顺美匡恶，方不负社稷之托。
A minister should praise what is good and correct what is wrong, so as to be worthy of the trust placed in him by the state.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 顺美匡恶
- Pinyin: shùn měi kuāng è
- Literal Translation: follow, beauty, correct, evil
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4