as far apart as heaven and earth

as far apart as heaven and earth

In Chinese, the Pinyin is ti ā NR ǎ ngzh ī g é, which means the distance between heaven and earth. It comes from baopuzi on immortals.

The origin of Idioms

Baopuzi · on the Immortals: "the desire to give up is different from the desire of the eyes and ears. It has the sense of heaven and earth, and it's better to be an iceberg."

Idiom usage

As an object; of great difference.

Examples

Compared with the late Tang Dynasty, "killing people indiscriminately is not afraid of heaven" and "pulling flags to insert dead people randomly" are not only a world apart. The sixth volume of Sheng'an poetry by Yang Shen in Ming Dynasty.

Liang Yuchun's critical biography of Charles Lamb: "he plays with Chinese literati on occasion. He has a playful attitude towards the world. His appearance seems to be different from that of Chinese literati. In fact, he is far away from Chinese literati."