when a man is poor , his ambition is not far-reaching

when a man is poor , his ambition is not far-reaching

In Chinese, Pinyin is R é nqi ó ngzh ì Du ǎ n, which means that when people are in a difficult situation, their ambition is small. From Ling Mengchu of Ming Dynasty

Idiom explanation

Poor: distress; short: short. When a man is in a difficult situation, his ambition is small.

The origin of Idioms

The forty first chapter of Wu Jianren's twenty years of witnessing the strange situation in Qing Dynasty: "the so-called people are poor and short of ambition. I dare to compete with him there, and I just want to avoid it."

Idiom usage

Yang Shuo's Hongshishan: "if you are poor and short of ambition, please wipe your face and go out to beg for food."