三顧草廬
Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage
Meaning
To court a talented person with utmost sincerity, visiting again and again. Today it describes going to great lengths to recruit someone or win them over.
Origin story
Liu Bei, then a guest in Jing Province, was desperately seeking a strategist to build his cause. He heard of a hidden genius named Zhuge Liang living in a thatched cottage in Longzhong. Twice Liu Bei visited with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei and twice failed to meet him; only on the third visit did he find Zhuge Liang, just waking from a nap. Moved by a lord humble enough to call three times, Zhuge Liang offered his grand plan to divide the realm in three and pledged his service. Zhuge Liang himself wrote in his Chu Shi Biao that the late Emperor "condescended to visit my cottage three times" — preserving the story in official history.
Source: Records of the Three Kingdoms — Zhuge Liang (the Chu Shi Biao)
People
Modern examples
- The CEO courted the industry’s best engineer with three-visits persistence until she finally joined.
- The director all but camped on the retired actor’s doorstep to bring him back for the film.