清qīng官guān難nán斷duàn家jiā務wù事shì

What does 清官難斷家務事 (qīng guān nán duàn jiā wù shì) mean?

清官難斷家務事 (qīng guān nán duàn jiā wù shì) is a folk proverb (yànyǔ 諺語). Word for word it reads "even a fair judge finds it hard to rule on family disputes." In use it means: Family conflicts are tangled in ways outsiders cannot untangle. Do not assume you can fix someone else's household. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Earth note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Dog.

Literally: "even a fair judge finds it hard to rule on family disputes."

The reading

The judge can read the law. The family reads something older. The grudge from the wedding. The silence at the funeral. The money that was never repaid. No outsider has enough information to decide, because half the evidence is a feeling no one can describe in court.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeyànyǔ 諺語
• FocusPresent-minded
• Element土 Earth
• Zodiac tie狗 Year of the Dog

Source Folk proverb; used in Ming/Qing legal commentary

Sits beside

Keep reading

Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in Home, Family & Roots, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Dog, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.