顧左右而言他

From Mencius (《孟子·梁惠王下》):

曰：「四境之內不治，則如之何？」王顧左右而言他。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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曰：「四境之内不治，则如之何？」王顾左右而言他。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

Yuē: “Sìjìng zhī nèi bù zhì, zé rú zhī hé?” Wáng gù zuǒyòu ér yán tā. [Pinyin]

[Mencius] said, "What would you do if your country is not managed well?" The king looked left and right, then started talking about something else.

顧左右而言他

1. to try to change the subject of a conversation; to evade the subject under discussion and talk about other affairs; to steer clear of the crucial point

   • 於是，他用眼角的餘光掃視了一下四周，發現旁邊太監也紛紛向他使眼色，便顧左右而言他，用「人自然是怕鬼」的話敷衍了事。 [MSC, trad.]
     于是，他用眼角的余光扫视了一下四周，发现旁边太监也纷纷向他使眼色，便顾左右而言他，用「人自然是怕鬼」的话敷衍了事。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 2011, 余建明, 《關於地理學的100個故事》 (100 Stories of Geography), page 129

     Yúshì, tā yòng yǎnjiǎo de yúguāng sǎoshì le yīxià sìzhōu, fāxiàn pángbiān tàijiān yě fēnfēn xiàng tā shǐ yǎnsè, biàn gù zuǒyòu ér yán tā, yòng “rén zìrán shì pà guǐ” de huà fūyǎn liǎoshì. [Pinyin]

     Thus, he scanned the surroundings with his peripheral vision and discovered that the eunuch beside him kept winking at him, so he tried to dodge the question and ended the discussion perfunctorily by saying, "People are naturally afraid of ghosts."

• 支吾其詞／支吾其词 (zhīwuqící)