📖 Meaning
To repay kindness with kindness; to return favor with gratitude. It describes the moral principle of responding to others' good deeds toward you with corresponding goodness and generosity.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the Analects (论语·宪问), a record of sayings of Confucius compiled during the Spring and Autumn period. When someone asked Confucius whether one should repay injury with kindness (以德报怨), Confucius replied by questioning how one would then repay kindness, stating that one should repay injury with justice (以直报怨) and repay kindness with kindness (以德报德). This established the Confucian principle that responses should be proportionate—matching virtue with virtue, and wrongdoing with fairness rather than excessive generosity.
💡 Example Usage
他受人恩惠必以德报德，从不忘恩负义。
He always repays kindness with kindness and never bites the hand that feeds him.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 以德报德
- Pinyin: yǐ dé bào yu
- Literal Translation: use, virtue, repay, virtue
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4