物极必反

物極必反

wùjí-bìfǎn

idiom #50,179

Meanings

1 when things reach an extreme, they reverse
2 any extreme breeds its opposite

Characters

to reverse, flip

Examples

HSK 5

物极必反，过度的成功往往导致失败。

Wùjí-bìfǎn, guòdù de chénggōng wǎngwǎng dǎozhì shībài.

Extremes reverse - excessive success often leads to failure.

HSK 7-9

他一直警告说物极必反，要适可而止。

Tā yìzhí jǐnggào shuō wùjí-bìfǎn, yào shìkě'érzhǐ.

He kept warning that extremes reverse - one must know when to stop.

Tips

history

Derived from 《吕氏春秋·博志》 (3rd century BC): 全则必缺，极则必反 ('what is whole must become incomplete; what reaches its extreme must reverse'). Echoed in 《鹖冠子·环流》: 物极则反，命曰环流 ('things at their extreme reverse, call this the circular flow'). It captures the Daoist intuition behind 阴阳: every yang peak conceals an emerging yin.

Stroke Order

物 wù

极 jí

必 bì

反 fǎn