📖 Meaning
Despite possessing literary talent, the person lacks moral integrity. It describes someone whose writing skills are commendable but whose character and conduct are reprehensible. The idiom critiques the dangerous gap between intellectual accomplishment and ethical behavior.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from Ji Yun's 'Yuewei Caotang Biji' (Notes from the Thatched Abode of Close Observations), a celebrated supernatural and anecdotal compendium written during the Qing dynasty. In the passage, Ji Yun observes that some scholars, despite their literary gifts, lack moral integrity. Over time their misdeeds and ill repute make others unwilling even to mention their names, reducing them to begging for food. Ji Yun, a prominent Qing scholar-official and chief compiler of the Siku Quanshu, used the phrase to warn against valuing literary accomplishment over ethical conduct.
💡 Example Usage
他虽文章华美，却有文无行，终为同僚所不齿。
Though his essays were elegant, he had literary talent but no moral conduct, and was ultimately despised by his colleagues.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 有文无行
- Pinyin: yǒu wén wú xíng
- Literal Translation: have, writing, no, conduct
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4