倒行逆施

Chinese
upside down; inverted to do opposite; contrary to do
trad. (倒行逆施) 倒 行 逆 施
simp. #(倒行逆施) 倒 行 逆 施

Etymology

《史記·伍子胥列傳》:

伍子胥曰：「為我謝申包胥曰，『吾日莫途遠，吾故倒行而逆施之。』」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
伍子胥曰：“为我谢申包胥曰，‘吾日莫途远，吾故倒行而逆施之。’” [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE
Wǔ Zǐxū yuē: “Wèi wǒ xiè Shēn Bāoxū yuē, ‘wú rìmù túyuǎn, wú gù dǎoxíng ér nìshī zhī.’” [Pinyin]
Wu Zixu said: "Go apologise on my behalf to Shen Baoxu, and tell him that I had had still a long way to travel but the sun was already setting, and that I, therefore, turned my ways upside down." (i.e., My life had always been in peril and my great objective of exacting revenge had been almost beyond reach, yet life was already running out. Therefore, I no longer cared whether my means to the end was perverted.)

Pronunciation

Idiom

倒行逆施

  1. to do things in a perverse way; to go against good; to commit evil deeds
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