精益求精
- Literal
- from fine, to seek finer still
- Figurative
- Not settling for something being good already, but polishing it again and again in search of an even better result.
Where does 精益求精 come from?
The phrase comes from Zhu Xi's commentary on the 《论语》. In the passage, Zigong quotes lines from the 诗经 — "as if cut, as if filed; as if carved, as if polished" (如切如磋，如琢如磨) — to describe how a person works on themselves. Glossing them, Zhu Xi, the great Song-dynasty commentator, explains that the worker in bone first cuts and then files, and the worker in jade first carves and then polishes: once the piece is already fine, one still seeks to make it finer. That last line is where the idiom comes from, and today it fits a product, a piece of writing, or anyone's craft.
Source (出处): 朱熹《论语集注》
How is 精益求精 used? Two examples
- 这家店的师傅做面精益求精，汤底熬了十几个小时。
The chef at this place never stops refining his noodles: he simmers the broth for more than ten hours.
- 方案已经不错了，但老板还想精益求精，让我们再改一版。
The proposal was already solid, but the boss wants it polished further and asked us for another version.
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