望洋兴叹

Origin and story

In the Autumn Floods chapter of the Zhuangzi (莊子), swollen tributaries make the Yellow River so broad that cattle and horses across the water cannot be distinguished. Its deity, the River Lord, congratulates himself on possessing all the world's grandeur. Then he follows the current to the northern sea and finds water extending beyond his sight. Facing the sea deity Ruo, he admits how narrow his former judgment was.

The original 望洋 describes looking upward in wonder, not simply the separate words 'look' and 'ocean,' even though the scene is at sea. The fable challenges limited perspectives. Later the idiom came to describe sighing at something beyond one's abilities or resources.