bất di bất dịch
Immovable and unshifting — fixed once and for all, never to change.
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bất dĩ thành bại, luận anh hùng
Don't weigh heroes by win and loss — battle luck is no measure of the man.
bất oán thiên, bất vưu nhơn
Resent not heaven, blame not others — peace begins at accepting one's lot.
bất sỉ hạ vấn
Unashamed to ask those below — the wise take instruction wherever it lives.
bất thùng chi thình
Thudding along without restraint — eating, drinking and doing exactly as appetite dictates.
bần cùng sinh đạo tặc
poor people are going to do what they must to get by
bầu leo dây bí cũng leo
The gourd climbs, and the squash vine climbs after — imitation scaling the same trellis.
bầu ơi thương lấy bí cùng, tuy rằng khác giống nhưng chung một giàn
love thy neighbor as thyself
bẩy nổi ba chìm
Seven times afloat, three times under — a fate tossed like a rice-cake in the pot; Hồ Xuân Hương's phrase for a woman's lot.
bật mí bí mật bị mất
A tongue-twisting lái chain — "reveal the secret that got lost" — said for fun or to tease someone who just spilled something.
bật tôm tanh tách
Snapping back like shrimp on a griddle — quick, crackling retorts to everything.
bắc nước chờ gạo
Pot on the fire, waiting for rice — preparation outrunning supply.
bắc thang lên hỏi trăng già, phải chăng phận gái mưa sa giữa trời. May ra gặp được giếng khơi Vừa trong vừa mát lại nơi thanh nhàn. Chẳng may số phận gian nan, lầm than phải chịu phàn nàn cùng ai
Set a ladder to the old moon and ask: is a girl's fate truly rain scattered mid-sky — landing in a clear well if lucky, in hardship if not.
bắn nhạn ven mây
To shoot the wild goose at the cloud's edge — to triumph brilliantly in a difficult examination.
bắn súng không nên phải đền đạn
Fire and miss, and you owe the bullet — failed attempts still bill their ammunition.
bắt chuột không hay, hay ỉa bếp
No good at mousing, expert at fouling the kitchen — useless where needed, busy where not.
bắt chước như khỉ
monkey see, monkey do
bắt chạch trong chum
Catching the loach in the water-jar — the sure thing, staged in a container.
bắt chạch đằng đuôi
Grabbing the loach by the tail — the hold that guarantees escape.
bắt cá hai tay
If you cannot make up your mind which of two things you should do, you are liable to get yourself into difficulties by doing neither.
bắt cóc, bỏ vào dĩa
Catching frogs into a saucer — no sooner in than out; custody that cannot hold.
bắt lươn đàng đuôi
Grabbing the eel by the tail — the slipperiest hold on a slippery thing.
bắt râu người nọ, đặt cằm người kia
Plucking one man's beard to plant on another's chin — swapping stories between owners until truth is upside down.
bắt đứa có tóc, không ai bắt đứa trọc đầu
Seize the man with hair; nobody grabs the shaven head — claims attach to those with something to hold.
bằng hữu chỉ ư tín
Friendship rests on good faith — without trust there is no friend to speak of.
bằng mặt không bằng lòng
reluctantly agree
bặt vô âm tín
missing; whereabouts unknown; complete radio silent
bế môn trục đạo
Shutting the door to chase out the thief — a cure that locks the disease inside.
bế quan toả cảng
to cut off a country from the outside world
bế quan tỏa cảng
Traditional tone placement spelling of bế quan toả cảng.
bề hội đồng
To gang up on someone as a group; a mob beating (related to "đánh hội đồng").
bề trên ở chẳng kỷ cang, cho nên bề dưới làm đàng mây mưa
When those above keep no order, those below make wind and rain — misrule breeds misconduct downward.
bể cạn non mòn
Seas run shallow and mountains wear down — time changes all things; also an image for a vow meant to outlast them.
bể kèo
A plan or deal that falls through; to flake on an arrangement (kèo = a bet or plan).
bệnh tòng khẩu nhập, hoạ tòng khẩu xuất
Illness comes in via the mouth because of food and trouble goes out via the mouth because of words; carefulness required in diet and speech
bỉ cực thới lai
When misery bottoms out, prosperity turns in — the wheel's lowest point is where it rises.
bỉ sắc tư phong
is rich in this is poor in that; (figurative) one cannot have it both ways
bị cao huyết áp hoặc huyết áp thấp
to have high or low blood pressure
bịnh quỉ đã có thuốc tiên
For a demon's illness, a fairy's medicine — extraordinary ailments summon extraordinary cures.
bịnh tùy khẩu nhập, họa tùng khẩu xuất
Sickness enters by the mouth; calamity exits by it — one gate for both directions of ruin.
bịt tai trộm chuông
to fool oneself, to bury one's head in the sand
bỏ bóng đá người
Leaving the ball to kick the man — abandoning the issue to attack the person.
bỏ mẹ
(phrase) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bỏ, mẹ.
bỏ ngoài tai
to turn a deaf ear
bỏ thì thương, vương thì tội
Discard it and grieve; keep it and suffer — the dilemma of what can neither stay nor go.
bố láo chi khươn
Utter insolent rot — barefaced, uncultured nonsense.
bống biển gầy nên một nhà
Sea-drift gathered into one house — strangers washed together until they're family.
bồng em thì khỏi xay lúa, xay lúa thì khỏi bồng em
Minding the baby excuses the rice-milling, and the reverse — one back cannot carry two jobs at once.
bổn cũ soạn lại
the same tired old trick; the same trite trope
bộ phong tróc ảnh
Netting wind and grabbing shadows — chasing what no hand can close on.
bới bèo ra bọ
Rake the duckweed and find the vermin — inspect anything closely and out crawl its faults.
bới đất nhặt cỏ
Scratching soil and picking grass — subsistence at the fingernail level.
bớt bát mát mặt
One bowl fewer, a cooler face — eat a little less and keep your dignity intact.
bỡn quá hoá thật
Tease too far and it turns true — the joke that crossed into fact.
bợm già mắc bẫy cò-ke
The old rogue caught in a berry-snare — a lifetime of cunning undone by the simplest trap.
bụng bảo dạ
Belly tells gut — to say something to oneself, keeping the thought private.
bụng đói cật rét
Empty belly, frozen back — want attacking from inside and out.
bụt chùa nhà không thiêng
The Buddha of your own pagoda works no miracles — the familiar is never revered; experts are strangers at home.
bụt nhà không thiêng
familiarity breeds contempt
bụt trên toà gà nào dám mổ mắt
No hen dares peck the Buddha on his altar — station protects; who strikes at the enthroned?
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