"Success and failure both come from Xiao He" comes from Hong Mai's Rongzhai Suibi of the Song Dynasty, and its allusion traces back to the Chu-Han Contention, when Xiao He chased after Han Xin under the moonlight and later devised a plan to lure Han Xin to his death. Because of Xiao He's recommendation, Han Xin was appointed commander and achieved brilliant military exploits; in the end, because of Xiao He's scheme, he was killed by Empress Lu and ruined in both reputation and life. The idiom literally means that the success or failure, good or bad, of an affair is caused by the same person or the same factor. Its deeper meaning emphasizes that the same person or thing can bring both success and failure, possessing a double-sided nature. It is often used to describe someone who plays a key role in promoting a matter and also a key role in ruining it, or to refer to the same cause leading to two opposite results. In cultural background, it embodies the Daoist dialectical thinking that misfortune and good fortune are interdependent, and it also warns people to pay attention to the two sides of things. Its emotional tone is relatively neutral, often carrying a sense of helplessness, irony, or lament, and it is used to evaluate complex human relationships or historical events.
📝 Example
1. This company was founded by him single-handedly, and now it has gone bankrupt because of his wrong decisions—truly "the same person who made it also ruined it." (It means the company's success and failure both stem from the same person.)
2. Internet traffic made this brand famous overnight, and it also fell into disrepute because of traffic fraud—"the same thing that made it also ruined it." (It means traffic is both the reason for success and the reason for failure.)