投鼠忌器

1. • lit. to refrain from shooting at the rat for fear of breaking the vases (idiom)
2. • to not act against an evil so as to prevent harm to innocents

Character by character

• 投(tóu)throw
• 鼠(shǔ)rat
• 忌(jì)be jealous of
• 器(qì)device