心有余而力不足
xīn​yǒu​yú'ér​lì​bù​zú

the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

  • created sense approved 心有余而力不足/心有餘而力不足 · xīn​yǒu​yú'ér​lì​bù​zú · the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    心有余而力不足 / 心有餘而力不足

    xīn​yǒu​yú'ér​lì​bù​zú

    the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

    unable to do what one wants; to have the desire to do something but lack the strength or resources to carry it out

    心 (literal) → 心 · xīn · mind 有余 (literal) → 有余/有餘 · yǒu​yú · to have extra 而 (literal) → 而 · ér · but 力 (literal) → 力 · lì · strength 不足 (literal) → 不足 · bù​zú · insufficient

    Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

    created sense