I would rather have broken jade than complete tiles

(

nìng

wéi

yù

suì, bù

wéi

wǎ

quán

)

Solution

Explanation

It is better to make jade and be broken than to make pottery and keep it safe. It is a metaphor that one would rather die for justice than live an ignoble existence.

Exit

Off

"Book of Northern Qi: Biography of Yuan Jing'an": "A real man would rather break the jade into pieces than destroy it completely."

Use

Method

Complex sentence pattern; used as predicate, attributive, adverbial; with complimentary meaning

Example

Example

Liu Shaotang's "Flower Street": "~, living shamelessly, life is worse than death."

Synonyms

Would rather die than surrender

Antonyms

Suffer one's anger, Stay safe