绳锯木断

Pronunciation: shéng jù mù duàn Literal meaning: Rope saws wood apart

Origin & Usage

The Song collection Helin Yulu tells of Zhang Guaiya, a magistrate who spotted a single copper coin from the treasury tucked under a clerk's headcloth and ordered him flogged. The clerk rounded on him — one coin is nothing, you may flog me but you cannot behead me — and Zhang took up his brush and wrote the judgment: a coin a day is a thousand coins in a thousand days, 绳锯木断，水滴石穿 — a rope used as a saw cuts wood through, dripping water bores stone through. He was arguing about corruption, not diligence. The phrase survived detached from the harshness of the story and now describes soft, repeated effort defeating something far harder than itself.

Examples

English: "With consistent effort, he managed to achieve his goals, just like a rope saw gradually cuts through wood."

Chinese: 他绳锯木断，经过不懈努力终于实现了目标。