袖手旁观
- Literal
- hands in sleeves, watching from the side
- Figurative
- To stand by with folded arms when you could help; unlike 视而不见, the problem is plain to see, and you simply choose to stay out of it.
Where does 袖手旁观 come from?
The image comes from the "Eulogy for Liu Zihou," which the Tang writer Han Yu composed on the death of his friend, the writer Liu Zongyuan (Zihou). Lamenting that such a talent had gone unused, he says that the clumsy, when carving wood, cut their fingers and sweat with shame, while the skilled craftsman watches from the side with his hands tucked into his sleeves. The text has 旁观 and 缩手袖间; the compact form 袖手旁观 became fixed later. Today it has nothing to do with wasted talent: it rebukes someone who could lend a hand and just stands and watches.
Source (出处): 韩愈《祭柳子厚文》
How is 袖手旁观 used? Two examples
- 弟弟急得快哭了，你怎么能袖手旁观？
Your little brother is almost in tears, and you're just going to stand there?
- 项目眼看要延期，他明明能帮忙，却选择袖手旁观。
The project is about to slip, and he could easily help, yet he has chosen to sit on his hands.
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