Comprehensive Chinese-English Dictionary

宁为玉碎，不为瓦全 [nìngwéiyùsuì,bùwéiwǎquán]

1. 1. [Chinese idiom] rather be a broken piece of jade than a whole tile—better to die in glory than live in dishonour

   万一失败，那就“宁为玉碎，不为瓦全”。

   In the event that we fail we'd rather fall to pieces like broken jade than remain intact as a worthless tile.

   革命烈士们宁为玉碎，不为瓦全。