顾此失彼

Pronunciation: gù cǐ shī bǐ Literal meaning: Attend to this, lose that

Origin & Usage

The idiom 顾此失彼 (gù cǐ shī bǐ) originates from the Ming dynasty text 《东周列国志》 by Feng Menglong. It describes a military strategy by Wu Zixu, who divided his army into three groups to attack different targets. The phrase captures the challenge of focusing on one aspect (顾此, attend to this) while neglecting another (失彼, lose that), illustrating the pitfalls of spreading resources too thin. In modern contexts, it is used to describe situations where limited resources lead to oversight or neglect, such as in project management or public policy. This idiom serves as a cautionary reminder to balance attention and resources effectively.

Examples

English: "By focusing too much on minor details, he overlooked the bigger picture and missed the deadline."

Chinese: 他过于关注细节，顾此失彼，最终错过了截止日期。