越俎代庖

From Zhuangzi:

庖人雖不治庖，尸祝不越樽俎而代之矣。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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庖人虽不治庖，尸祝不越樽俎而代之矣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE

Páorén suī bù zhìpáo, shīzhù bù yuè zūnzǔ ér dài zhī yǐ. [Pinyin]

Though the cook were not attending to his kitchen, the representative of the dead and the officer of prayer would not leave their cups and stands to take his place.

越俎代庖

1. (figurative) to overstep one's bounds and meddle in other's affairs
   • 2007, 肖天佑, transl., 如果在冬夜，一个旅人, China: 译林出版社:

     任何封皮上的话都不能越俎代庖，不能告诉你应该由书本直接告诉你的东西，也不能代替你将从书中汲取的东西（尽管你可能受益匪浅也可能受益不大）。 [MSC, simp.]
     任何封皮上的話都不能越俎代庖，不能告訴你應該由書本直接告訴你的東西，也不能代替你將從書中汲取的東西（儘管你可能受益匪淺也可能受益不大）。 [MSC, trad.]

     From: 1979, Italo Calvino, If on a winter's night a traveler, in English translated by William Weaver, 1981.

     Rènhé fēngpí shàng de huà dōu bùnéng yuèzǔdàipáo, bùnéng gàosù nǐ yìnggāi yóu shūběn zhíjiē gàosù nǐ de dōngxī, yě bùnéng dàitì nǐ jiāng cóng shū zhōng jíqǔ de dōngxī (jǐnguǎn nǐ kěnéng shòuyìfěiqiǎn yě kěnéng shòuyì bù dà). [Pinyin]

     There is no message that indiscreetly outshouts the message that the book itself must communicate directly, that you must extract from the book, however much or little it may be.