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道高益安，勢高益危
简 道高益安，势高益危 · 繁 道高益安，勢高益危Mandarin · pinyin dào gāo yì ān , shì gāo yì wēi
Meanings
- More moral strength increases one's safety, more power and influence increases one's danger (idiom, from Records of the Historian 史記). cf Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it (William Pitt the Elder, 1770).
Characters in this entry
- 道
- dào · path, road, street; method, way
- 高
- gāo · high, tall; lofty, elevated; Kangxi radical 189
- 益
- yì · profit, benefit; advantage; hexagram ䷩
- 安
- ān · peaceful, tranquil, quiet
- 勢
- Look up this written character
- 危
- wēi · dangerous, precarious; high; 12th lunar mansion, determinative star α Aquarii (Sadalmelik)
- 势
- shì · power, force; tendency
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Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.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.
道高益安，勢高益危 · find source passages ↗ · 道高益安，势高益危 · find source passages ↗