The sentence literally means since the nest is destroyed, all of the eggs inside shall also be broken. It is used to mean that when one suffers a misfortune, none of his family, old and young, can escape. According to ancient literature, Kong Rong opposed Cao Cao to launch a war, but Cao Cao would not take his opinion. So Kong Rong expressed some complaints behind the backs of Cao Cao. Furious at that, Cao Cao ordered to arrest and execute all of Kong Rong's family. When Kong Rong was arrested, all of his family, except two kids at about eight or nine years old, were quite frightened. Others thought the kids were too young to know a black day was coming, so they sneakily told them to run away quickly. Surprisingly, the kids said in no hurry that, "How could any egg stay intact once the nest has been destroyed?" In the end, the two kids went to die with their father, composed and steady.

Later on, the sentence is used to mean that if something is destroyed as a whole, there will be no way for the components to survive.