구전지훼
???
I was utterly unable to figure this out. I can’t even find dictionary entries that make sense to me.
I don’t actually think it’s Korean, based on some research. I think it’s Chinese. But like most old Chinese, it has a “Korean pronunciation,” which is what that is above. The hanja (Chinese) is: 求全之毁. It’s by Mencius (孟子=맹자) – the Confucian philosopher from long, long ago.
So I didn’t know what it was, but I found it in the online hanja dictionary, with a definition in Korean: 행동이나 몸가짐을 빈틈없이 온전히 하려다가 오히려 뜻밖에 남에게 욕을 듣게 됨. This was too hard for me to figure out, but I started to get the drift, and did some searching. I found this more concise definition: 온전하기를 구하다가 비난받음. This could translate as “Condemned to seek perfection.”
That, at least, makes sense. But I also found Mencius’s phrase linked to Moliere’s: “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” So maybe that’s a rough equivalent proverb? Hard to say. I’m giong to have to think about it.