toil with no gain
Chinese idiom, Pinyin is l á o é RW ú g ō ng, which means to spend effort, but not to achieve results. From Guanzi · situation.
The origin of Idioms
Guanzi · situation chapter: "it's impossible to cooperate with others, it's impossible to be strong, it's impossible to tell others, it's futile."
Idiom usage
Contractive; used as predicate, object and attribute; used to evaluate the effect of a person's work. Example in order of Mozi: "the earth is not allowed to do its duty; then the labor is futile." Chuang Tzu's Tianyun: "today, Qi travels in Zhou and Lu. It's just like pushing a boat on land. It's useless." Lu's filial piety in the spring and Autumn Period: if you want to seek the origin, you will get it after ten days; if you want to seek the end, you will get nothing Ruan Kuisheng, Qing Dynasty: Yuan Wenqing of Qing Dynasty said: "when you were young, you had five mistakes in reading: you had no choice, but you were too broad to be important; when you were good at the words and deeds of the ancients, you often recoiled and didn't dare to look, but you were too cowardly to stand up; when you usurped the truth, you had to change it again and again, but you had no success; when you heard about people's strong points, you would follow them quickly, but you were too quick to follow; when you like to learn, you couldn't succeed If we keep our roots, we will lose them. "
Analysis of Idioms
The opposite is to enjoy success without effort
Chinese PinYin : láo ér wú gōng
toil with no gain
scholars of profound learning. sù xué jiù rú
sit idle and eat , and in time one 's whole fortune will be used up. zuò chī shān bēng
Three in a row and five in a row. lián sān kuà wǔ
All the branches and Graves. lián zhī gòng zhǒng
set the snipe and clam at each other and then take advantage of both. zuò shōu yú lì