臥薪嚐膽 (Wòxīnchángdǎn)

[Daimashin]

臥薪嚐膽 (Wòxīnchángdǎn) - Remember the hardships.

Literal meaning - Undercover logs tastes gall.

During the Spring and Autumn period, Kingdom of Yue was defeated by the Kingdom of Wu and its ruler "勾践"(Gōujiàn) became a prisoner of war. In order to survive and fight another day, Gōujiàn was willing to do anything, including a slave. After many years, Gōujiàn was finally released and he returned to his kingdom. One day, his servants snuck into his room to see what it looked like. Servant A jumped on the bed and was surprised that it was filled with logs of wood underneath the bed sheet. Servant B noticed something was hanging on the side and remembered that Gōujiàn licked it every night. He thought it must've have tasted great so he took a lick himself only to find it bitter to the gut. Gōujiàn walked in and explained to them the reason was to remind himself of the hardships he had endured so that he could become stronger. In the end, Gōujiàn managed to avenge his defeat and beat Wu.

臥薪嚐膽 (Wòxīnchángdǎn) means to take a failure and uses it as a form of motivation to do better next time.

Example:

"你輸了比賽沒關係，就當「臥薪嘗膽」, 下一次做好一點."