zé​shàn'ér​cóng

to choose what is good and follow it

  • created sense approved 择善而从/擇善而從 · zé​shàn'ér​cóng · to choose what is good and follow it — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    择善而从 / 擇善而從

    zé​shàn'ér​cóng

    to choose what is good and follow it

    To choose the right course and follow it; to select what is good and adopt it or learn from it. This idiom originates from the "Analects" of [[孔子|孔子|kong3 zi3]], which suggests that when walking with others, one should identify their good qualities to follow and their bad qualities to correct in oneself.

    择 (literal) → 择/擇 · zé · to choose 善 (literal) → 善 · shàn · good 而 (literal) → 而 · ér · [adverbial linker] 从 (literal) → 从/從 · cóng · to comply with

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

    created sense