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求人不如求己

Mandarin · pinyin qiú rén bù rú qiú jǐ

if you want sth done well, do it yourself (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

求: qiú · seek; demand, request; beseech
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
如: rú · if, supposing; as if; like, as
己: jǐ · self, oneself; personal, private; 6th heavenly stem

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–2–4–2–2–3 · qiu2 ren2 bu4 ru2 qiu2 ji3

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

kau4 jan4 bat1 jyu4 kau4 gei2

Cantonese word readings for 求人不如求己. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

proverb

it's better to rely on yourself than on the help of others; if you want a thing done well, do it yourself

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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