Chinese idiom · 成语
一劳永逸
Meaning
One effort, eternal ease; lasting solution.
Character by character
Origin and story
Historical political argumentThe Hanshu (漢書), volume 94, preserves Yang Xiong's memorial arguing against refusing an audience to the Xiongnu ruler. Under Emperor Ai, some officials feared ill omens connected with such visits. Yang instead stressed how much effort and expense earlier rulers had devoted to maintaining security on the frontier.
His argument says that without a period of toil there can be no lasting ease, and without temporary expenditure no enduring peace. The later idiom condenses that reasoning into the promise of one effort bringing a permanent solution. It expresses an aspiration rather than a guarantee: in modern use people often question whether a supposedly once-and-for-all answer really exists.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
整理好文件夹也不能一劳永逸，以后还得定期维护。
Organizing the folders isn't a once-and-for-all solution; they will still need regular maintenance.
Often used to challenge the idea that one action removes all future work.