玩物丧志 (wán wù sàng zhì) — to lose one's ambition through excessive indulgence in trivial pleasures; to fritter away one's purpose by obsessing over hobbies
Definition
A classical idiom warning that obsessing over hobbies or pleasures makes a person lose ambition and purpose. Conveys moral judgement: the activity itself is not necessarily bad, but it harms one's goals.
idiom
to lose one's ambition through excessive indulgence in trivial pleasuresto fritter away one's purpose by obsessing over hobbies
Examples
- ，玩物丧志。Tā zhěng tiān zhī dǎ yóu xì, zhēn shì wán wù sàng zhì.He plays games all day — it's truly a case of losing ambition through trivial pleasures.
- 玩物丧志，。Nián qīng rén yīng gāi jǐng tì wán wù sàng zhì, yào zhuān zhù yú xué xí hé gōng zuò.Young people should guard against losing ambition through indulgence and focus on their studies and work.
- ，玩物丧志。Shōu jí gǔ dǒng běn shēn bú shì huài shì, dàn ruò yīn cǐ huāng fèi shì yè biàn shì wán wù sàng zhì.Collecting antiques in itself is not bad, but if it causes you to neglect your career, that's 'play things and lose ambition'.
Origin
Compound word构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate
A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.
玩物 means playing with things and 丧志 means losing one's ambition, so indulgence in trifles erodes purpose.
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