踏tà破pò鐵tiě鞋xié無wú覓mì處chù，得dé來lái全quán不bù費fèi工gōng夫fu

What does 踏破鐵鞋無覓處，得來全不費工夫 (tà pò tiě xié wú mì chù dé lái quán bù fèi gōng fu) mean?

踏破鐵鞋無覓處，得來全不費工夫 (tà pò tiě xié wú mì chù dé lái quán bù fèi gōng fu) is a line of classical verse (shīcí 詩詞). Word for word it reads "wear out iron shoes searching with no result, then it comes without any effort." In use it means: You search everywhere and find nothing, then the answer appears effortlessly when you least expect it. The search was not wasted, but the discovery came on its own schedule. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Water note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Monkey.

Literally: "wear out iron shoes searching with no result, then it comes without any effort."

The reading

You looked in every drawer, every pocket, every bag. You retraced your steps twice. You gave up. And then you sat down and it was on the chair. The universe has a sense of timing that does not match yours. The search was necessary, not because it found the thing, but because it exhausted every place the thing was not.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeshīcí 詩詞
• FocusPresent-minded
• Element水 Water
• Zodiac tie猴 Year of the Monkey

Source Xia Yuanding 夏元鼎 (Song dynasty); widely used as proverb

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 Timing & Fortune's Turning, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Monkey, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.