宁缺毋滥nìng quē wú lànsooner leave a post vacant than have it haphazardly filled; would rather go without than have sth. shoddy—put quality before quantity
❍ 前天晚上，我们不是决定了‘～’的宗旨么？(茅盾《子夜》129) If you remember,gentlemen,we decided the night before last to work on the principle of keeping our numbers down when necessary. 宁缺毋滥nìnɡ quē wú làn宁：宁可；毋：不要；滥：过度。宁可少些甚至没有，也不要降低标准来凑数。put quality before quantity, rather have a void than a substandard substitute |