Chinese idiom · 成语
志在千里
Meaning
To have far-reaching ambitions; literally, to set one's sights a thousand li away.
Character by character
Origin and story
PoetryCao Cao's poem Gui Sui Shou, part of the Bu Chu Xia Men Xing sequence, places an old fine horse beside its manger while its ambition still reaches a thousand li. The following lines apply the image to an older person whose strong resolve has not ended. The poem first acknowledges mortality, then insists that age and physical limits need not extinguish aspiration.
志在千里 takes the ambitious half of that paired image. It is closely connected with 老骥伏枥 but can be used more generally of far-reaching goals, not only of old age. 千里 gives the ambition a great imagined distance; li is a Chinese distance unit, not an English mile.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
她虽然刚开了第一家小店，却志在千里，希望把家乡手艺带到海外。
She has only just opened her first small shop, but her ambitions reach far: she hopes to bring her hometown's craft overseas.
Praises far-reaching ambition; often paired with 老骥伏枥 when referring to an older person.