画地为牢

Pronunciation: huà dì wéi láo Literal meaning: Drawing ground as prison

Origin & Usage

Sima Qian, in the letter to Ren An written after his own mutilation, describes what a man of honour will do rather than face the officers: there are those for whom a circle drawn (画) on the ground (地) is a prison (为牢) they will not step out of, and a wooden figure of a jailer one they will not answer. His point is about shame, not about trust. The phrase has since inverted into a criticism, describing limits somebody has drawn for themselves and then treated as real walls.

Examples

English: "Don't limit yourself by drawing boundaries that don't exist."

Chinese: 不要画地为牢，限制自己的发展。