190Japanese proverb ことわざ
押してもだめなら引いてみな
おしてもだめならひいてみなOshite mo dame nara hiite mina
“If pushing fails, try pulling.”
The meaning
Persisting with the same method is not perseverance, it is stubbornness. When the door resists, the problem is sometimes the direction of the effort, not its amount.
At the origin
A popular Japanese saying, often quoted in craftsmanship and sales.
The characters
- 押して oshitepushing
- も moeven if
- だめ dameno good
- なら
- 引いて
- みな
もParticle“Also, even”: adds or strengthens.
In practice
Where you are forcing without result, invert the approach once and see.