Idiom Explanation:
The most urgent thing in the current mission. Mencius believed that no matter what you do, you should first coordinate your work by separating the priorities.
Pronunciation:
当务之急
dāng wù zhī jí
Origin:
战国·孟子《孟子·尽心上》：“知者无不知也，当务之为急；仁者无不爱也，急亲贤之为务。”
Story:
Once, a disciple of Mencius asked what he should know and do first, given the many things he had to know and do.
Mencius replied, “The one who knows knows nothing, and the one who is urgent is the one who should know, and the one who is benevolent does not love, and the one who is urgent is the one who is close to the virtuous.” Mencius meant that a wise person knows everything, but he should know what needs to be done urgently among the current things he should do, and not to do everything. For example, benevolence is something that people love everything, but they have to love their relatives and the virtuous first. Another example is that the ancient saints Yao and Shun were not yet able to know all things, for they had to be anxious to know the most important things at present. Nor was the benevolence of Yao and Shun to love all things, for they were anxious to love loved ones and the virtuous.
Then Mencius answered this question from the opposite side: “When a parent dies, and does not go to the mourning period of three years, but is preoccupied with the rituals of mourning for three or five months; when one eats in the presence of an elder, and wolfs down the soup without courtesy, and gurgles, but goes on to preach about how one must not break dry meat with one’s teeth, etc., this is to put the cart before the horse, not knowing what is most important to know and do at present. “
Similar Idioms:
- 燃眉之急
