屡败屡战

lǚ bài lǚ zhàn

to fight on after every defeat

Character by character

屡lǚ
repeatedly

败bài
lose

屡lǚ
repeatedly

战zhàn
fight

他创业失败了三次，却屡败屡战。

His start-ups failed three times, yet he kept trying again.

Tone: positive (praise).

Legend says Zeng Guofan changed a report of 屡战屡败 (lost every battle) into 屡败屡战 (fought on after every loss).

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