119Japanese proverb ことわざ
過ぎたるは猶及ばざるが如し
すぎたるはなおおよばざるがごとしSugitaru wa nao oyobazaru ga gotoshi
“Too much is as bad as too little.”
Word for wordExcess is like insufficiency.
The meaning
Overshooting the measure damages as much as falling short: too much zeal exhausts, too much help smothers, too many words drown. Rightness is a point, not a direction.
At the origin
A saying from the Analects of Confucius, now a common Japanese proverb.
The characters
- 過ぎたる sugitaruexcess
- は watopic marker
- 猶 naojust as
- 及ばざる
- が
- 如し
はParticleMarks the topic: what the sentence is about — “as for…”.
In practice
Where you are forcing, try doing a little less — and better.
Editorial note
Classical Chinese origin (Analects of Confucius).
Themes
In the collections · Kanso
Similar proverbs
- 170 喉元過ぎれば熱さを忘れる Once past the throat, the burn is forgotten.
- 194 三十六計逃げるに如かず Of the thirty-six stratagems, retreat is the finest.
- 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.
- 064 早起きは三文の徳 Early rising earns three coins of profit.
- 070 一日一善 Each day, one good deed.