心有余，力不足
xīn​yǒu​yú​lì​bù​zú

the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

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

    心有余，力不足 / 心有餘，力不足

    xīn​yǒu​yú​lì​bù​zú

    the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

    the will is there but the strength or resources are lacking; to want to do something but be unable to carry it out

    心 (literal) → 心 · xīn · mind 有余 (literal) → 有余/有餘 · yǒu​yú · to have extra ， (non_chinese) 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