A poem comparing the advantages and disadvantages of people or things is "a husband is short, an inch is long, and things are insufficient."

"The ruler is short, the inch is long, and the things are insufficient", which comes from Qu Yuan, a poet of Chu State in the Warring States Period. The literary genre of Chu Ci is poetry. In an article "Buju" included in "Songs of the South", a conversation between Qu Yuan and Zheng Zhanyin, a servant, was recorded, in which it was said that "the ruler is short, the inch is strong, and the material is insufficient. The wisdom is unknown, the number is insufficient, and God is unreasonable. " It means that a ruler is longer than an inch, but it also has shortcomings. Inch is shorter than ruler, but it also has its advantages. Everything in the world is imperfect. People's wisdom is sometimes unclear, there are unpredictable things in divination, and immortals also have hidden secrets.

The ruler is good, but the inch is short. Now it is often used to describe that people or things have their own advantages and disadvantages.