Idiom Explanation:
With persistence and perseverance, things will always work out.
Pronunciation:
水滴石穿
shuǐ dī shí chuān
Origin:
东汉·班固《汉书·枚乘传》：泰山之管穿石，单极之绠断干。水非石之钻，索非木之锯，渐靡使之然也 。
Story:
During the Song Dynasty, Zhang Shibiya was a county magistrate in Chongyang (now part of Hubei) and was a clean and honest official. At that time, it often happened that some soldiers insulted the generals and marshals, and minor officials violated their officers. Zhang Zhiya thought this was an anomaly and was determined to rectify this phenomenon.
One day, he was patrolling around the government office. Suddenly, he saw a minor official come out of the treasury in a panic. He found a penny hidden under his turban. The official stammered for half a day before admitting that he had stolen it from the army.
Zhang Yiyia took the official back to the lobby and had him beaten with a cane. The official was not convinced: “What’s a penny? You can only beat me, not kill me!” Zhang Yiyia was furious and wrote on the verdict: “A penny a day, a thousand days a thousand pennies, the rope is broken, the water drips through the stone.” It means that if you steal one coin a day, a thousand days is a thousand coins. Similarly, if you saw wood with a rope, the wood will be broken after a long time. When water drops on a stone from time to time, the stone will also be dripped through. To punish such behavior, Zhang Beiya beheaded the petty official in the court.
Similar Idioms:
- 磨杵成针
- 绳锯木断
