265Japanese proverb ことわざ
無理が通れば道理引っ込む
むりがとおればどうりひっこむMuri ga tōreba dōri hikkomu
“When abuse passes, reason withdraws.”
The meaning
Every tolerated abuse pushes what is right one step back. The proverb observes — and thereby calls: reason only holds if someone holds it.
At the origin
A card of the Edo iroha deck, a social observation still current.
The characters
- 無理 muriunreason
- が ga(subject)
- 通れば
- 道理
- 引っ込む
がParticleMarks the subject: the one who does, or what is.
In practice
On the small injustices within your reach, do not withdraw.
Themes
Similar proverbs
- 219 この道や行く人なしに秋の暮 This road — no one else walks it. Autumn evening.
- 048 無くて七癖 Even those who think they have none have seven quirks.
- 053 旅は道連れ世は情け On a journey, a companion; in life, kindness.
- 200 人の一生は重荷を負うて遠き道を行くが如し A man's life is a long road walked under a burden; there is no need to hurry.
- 294 智に働けば角が立つ。情に棹させば流される。意地を通せば窮屈だ。 Act on reason, and you grow sharp-cornered. Pole along feeling, and you are swept away. Force your will, and you are cramped. Decidedly, the human world is hard to live in.