时绌举赢 / Untimely Extravagance

时绌举赢 / untimely extravagance is the political-ethics concept 《资治通鉴·周纪》28丨韩昭侯的快乐你想象不到 draws from 韩昭侯 building a high gate after 秦国 attacks 韩国 at 宜阳 and after Han suffers drought. The point is not that building is always wrong; it is that the same action becomes politically wrong when the state’s condition cannot bear it.

The source uses 屈宜臼 to define “time” as circumstance rather than calendar date. A ruler must read war, disaster, treasury pressure, and public burden before turning private delight into a visible state project.

Key Claims

• Timing in statecraft means suitability to circumstance, not just when an event occurs.
• Ruler pleasure becomes politically exposed when it is funded or displayed during hardship.
• War and disaster change the moral meaning of ordinary prestige projects.
• The concept links personal indulgence to public legitimacy because subjects and advisers read actions against the state’s condition.

Connections

• 韩昭侯 and 屈宜臼 - source ruler and critic.
• 韩国, 秦国, and 宜阳 - hardship context behind the warning.
• 《资治通鉴》 and 芮淇讲透资治通鉴 - text and podcast frame.
• Legalist Ruler Technique / 法家君术 and Merit-Based Reward and Punishment / 因功赏罚 - nearby Han governance branch showing ruler discipline in smaller administrative choices.