ant holes may cause the collapse of a dyke

ant holes may cause the collapse of a dyke

The Chinese idiom, Pinyin D ī Ku ì y ǐ Xu é, means that a small ant nest can break a bank. If you don't pay attention to small things, there will be big trouble. From the book of the later Han Dynasty.

The origin of Idioms

Han Feizi Yu Lao: "a thousand Zhang dike breaks through the hole of mole ants; a hundred Chi treasure burns through the smoke of a sudden gap."

Idiom usage

If you are careless, the dike will collapse. ——Miscellaneous Poems by Wei yingyu of the Three Kingdoms

Idiom story

During the Warring States period, Bai Gui, the Prime Minister of the state of Wei, made great achievements in flood control. He was good at building embankments for flood control, and made frequent inspections. When he found a small hole, even a tiny ant hole, he immediately sent someone to fill it, so as not to let it leak, so as to avoid the gradual expansion of the small hole, burst, and cause major disasters. During Bai Gui's tenure as Wei prime minister, there was no flood in the state of Wei.