姑息养奸 (gū xī yǎng jiān) — to tolerate evil is to abet it; appeasement breeds trouble

Definition

Examples

• 对违法行为绝不能姑息养奸，否则会破坏社会秩序。
  Duì wéi fǎ xíng wéi jué bù néng gū xī yǎng jiān, fǒu zé huì pò huài shè huì zhì xù.
  We must never tolerate illegal acts, or it will undermine social order.
• 经理发现员工的小错误却不管，这就是姑息养奸。
  Jīng lǐ fā xiàn yuán gōng de xiǎo cuò wù què bù guǎn, zhè jiù shì gū xī yǎng jiān.
  The manager noticed the employees' small mistakes but did nothing — that's tolerating evil.
• 父母过分溺爱孩子，往往是姑息养奸，助长了坏习惯。
  Fù mǔ guò fèn nì ài hái zi, wǎng wǎng shì gū xī yǎng jiān, zhù zhǎng le huài xí guàn.
  Overindulgent parents often end up tolerating evil and encouraging bad habits.