Chinese idioms from the Dao De Jing
大方无隅 (dà fāng wú yú)
Word for word from chapter 41
大方无隅 (dà fāng wú yú), “the great square has no corners”, comes from chapter 41 of the Dao De Jing and means that true uprightness has no sharp edges.
Character by character
| 大 | dà | great, big |
|---|---|---|
| 方 | fāng | square |
| 无 | wú | not have, without, no |
| 隅 | yú | corner |
| 大方无隅 | Something truly great and upright shows no sharp corners: integrity that is broad, not harsh. | |
Where it comes from
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大方无隅，大器晚成，
the great square has no corners, the great vessel is finished late,
How the meaning moved
The phrase opens line 13 of chapter 41, just before the better-known 大器晚成: “the great square has no corners, the great vessel is finished late”. Both belong to the “established sayings” the chapter quotes, a run of images in which the greatest form of something looks like its absence: “The bright Way seems dark”, “the great sound is barely heard, the great image has no shape”.
A square is defined by its corners; a square vast enough would have corners too far apart to be seen. The Way is like that: it has a shape, but too great to be taken in. Chapter 58 uses the same image for the sage, who is upright without hurting others: “So the sage is square but does not cut”.
方 also means “upright, principled”, and that is how the idiom is used today, in a literary register: for a person of firm principle who is broad-minded and gentle with others.
Using it today
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老校长为人正直，却从不苛责别人，可谓大方无隅。
lǎo xiào zhǎng wéi rén zhèng zhí, què cóng bù kē zé bié rén, kě wèi dà fāng wú yú.
The old headmaster was upright, yet never harsh with anyone: integrity without sharp edges.
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大方无隅，真正有原则的人，用不着处处显得棱角分明。
dà fāng wú yú, zhēn zhèng yǒu yuán zé de rén, yòng bu zháo chù chù xiǎn de léng jiǎo fēn míng.
The great square has no corners: people of real principle have no need to show their edges at every turn.