Chinese Idiom: Do What Is Right Without Hesitation (義無返顧)

An idiom referring to a sense of justice, righteousness, and duty that compels one to bravely go forward without a second thought.

Looking through a window of a watchtower on the Great Wall of China. As soon as soldiers of great courage receive urgent news of an enemy attack, they immediately rush to defend their country, determined to fulfill their duty without hesitation. Mirko Kirstein/Photos.com

The Chinese idiom 義無返顧 (yì wú fǎn gù) advises people to “do what is right without hesitation.”

The idiom originates from a passage in the “Biography of Sima Xiangru” (司馬相如列傳), a chapter in “Shiji” (史記), or “Records of the Grand Historian,” written in the early Han Dynasty by the famous historian Sima Qian (司馬遷).