nhứt nhựt bất niệm thiện, chư ác giai tự khởi
Skip one day of good intent and every evil sprouts by itself — virtue is daily maintenance.
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All languages English Tiếng Việt
nhứt nhựt tại tù, thiên thu tại ngoại
One day in prison, a thousand autumns outside — captivity's clock runs a millennium per day.
nhứt nhựt vi sư
A teacher for one day is a teacher — instruction of an hour earns a lifetime's respect.
nhứt pháp lập nhứt tệ sanh
Each new law births its own racket — every fresh rule feeds the clerks who work its loopholes.
nhứt tinh chi hỏa năng thiêu vạn khoảnh chi tân, bán cú phi ngôn ngộ tổ bình sanh chi đức
One spark burns ten thousand cords of wood; one crooked half-sentence burns a lifetime's virtue — fire and speech, same physics.
nhứt ẩm nhứt trác sự giai tiền định
Every sip and every peck was settled beforehand — down to the least mouthful, the script is prior.
nhữ tác ưng hoàn nhữ thọ
You did it, you answer for it — the deed's invoice is addressed to its maker.
những khi trái nắng trở trời, con đau là mẹ đứng ngồi không yên. Trọn đời vất vả triền miên, chăm lo bát gạo vàng bạc nuôi con
When the weather crossed and the child fell ill, mother could neither stand nor sit — a whole life of ceaseless toil, trading rice-bowls of gold to raise her young.
những người con mắt lá răm Lông mày lá liễu đáng trăm quan tiền
Eyes like knotweed leaves and willow-leaf brows — worth a hundred strings of coin — the classical inventory of a lovely face.
nhựt một đồ cùng
The sun low, the road ended — old age's dusk, past all racing.
nhựt nguyệt tuy minh, nam chiếu phúc bồn chi hạ
Sun and moon shine, but never under the upturned basin — even genius has its blind hollow.
ninh thọ tử bất ninh thọ nhục
Rather death than disgrace — the neck outranks the name in no ledger that matters.
ninh vi sơn thượng hổ, bất tác phủ trung ngư
Better a tiger on the mountain than a fish in the pot — sovereignty in the wild over comfort in captivity.
niên nguyệt tuy đa, bất quá nhứt bổn nhứt tức
However many the years, interest may not pass principal — the old usury cap: one capital, one interest.
no bụng đói con mắt
His eyes are bigger than his belly.
no cơm dửng mỡ
Full of rice and frisky — comfort breeding mischief.
no dồn đói góp
Feast crammed, famine scraped — bingeing and starving by turns; no steady measure.
no hết ngon, giận hết khôn
Full spoils the appetite, fury spoils the wits — anger is a brief insanity.
no nên bụt, đói nên ma
Fed, a Buddha; starved, a ghost — morality runs on meals.
no star where
It's fine, no problem — a joke word-for-word "translation" of "không sao đâu" (không = no, sao = star, đâu = where). Classic Vietnamese-English wordplay.
no trong mo ngoài đất sét
Full inside, palm-sheath and clay outside — the cowherd's trick of plastering the hungry buffalo; padding over emptiness.
no xôi chán chè
Stuffed with sticky rice, sick of sweet soup — sated to the point of revulsion.
non Bồng nước Nhược
The Bồng peaks and Nhược waters — fairyland; the immortals' postal address.
non cao cũng có đường trèo, hiểm nghèo cũng có lối đi
The high mountain has its climbing path; even peril keeps a way through — no terrain is entirely without a road.
nuôi con cho được vuông tròn Mẹ thầy đầu gãi xương mòn gối cong. Nuôi con khó nhọc đến giờ Trưởng thành con phải biết thờ hai thân
Raising a child to full and whole, the parents' heads scratch bare, bones wear, knees bow — grown now, the child must honor those two.
nuôi con không phép kể tiền cơm
No parent invoices the rice — feeding one's children admits no bookkeeping.
nuôi con mới biết sự tình Thầm thương cha mẹ nuôi mình hồi xưa
Only in raising my own children do I understand — and silently love my parents for raising me back then.
nuôi cáo chuồng gà
Keeping a fox in the hen-coop — sheltering the one who will devour you.
nuôi heo rán lấy mỡ, nuôi con đỡ chơn tay
Raise the pig for lard, raise the child for helping hands — the farmhouse arithmetic of dependents.
nuôi khỉ dòm nhà
Keeping a monkey to watch the house — entrusting the wrong creature and paying for it.
nuôi ong tay áo
to protect or raise someone who could later betray or turn against you; to nourish a viper in one's bosom
nuôi ong tay áo, nuôi khỉ dòm nhà
A bee in the sleeve, a monkey watching the house — nurtured enemies posted at your softest points.
NVCC
initialism of nhân vật cung cấp
nx
Texting shortcut for “nữa” — more / also. “j nx” = what else?
nà ní
Nà ní — Vietnamese respelling of Japanese 'nani': whaaat?!, disbelief in anime intonation.
nài hoa ép liễu
Forcing the flower and bending the willow — coercing a woman's favors; sexual imposition.
này kia khác nọ
this one here, that one there, something else and that other one
nát giỏ còn bờ tre
The basket breaks; the bamboo hedge stands — the tool is lost, the source that makes tools remains.
nát như tương
Mashed as fermented bean paste — pulped past recognition.
nâng khăn sửa túi
Lifting the towel and straightening the purse — the old ideal of a wife's attentive service to her husband.
ném tiền qua cửa sổ
Throwing money out the window — spending with reckless, showy waste.
nén bạc đâm toạc tờ giấy
A silver ingot tears through the paper — money rips the strongest document; bribery beats writ.
nín như thóc
Quiet as stored paddy — not one grain of a word.
nói chín thì nên làm mười Nói mười làm chín kẻ cười người chê
Say nine, then do ten; say ten and do nine, and the world will laugh — deeds must outrun words.
nói có sách, mách có chứng
Claims must be backed by sources and accusations by evidence — speak with proof.
nói dễ, làm khó
Easier said than done.
nói gì thì nói
anyway, anyhow, in any case, be that as it may, nevertheless
nói gần nói xa chẳng qua nói thật
Talk near, talk far — nothing beats talking straight — circumlocution's one-line refutation.
nói hay hơn hay nói
Speaking well beats speaking often — few words that land outrank a stream that doesn't.
nói hươu nói vượn
to chat idly; to shoot the breeze
nói lời phải giữ lấy lời Đừng như con bướm đậu rồi lại bay
Give your word and keep your word — don't be the butterfly that lands and flits away.
nói một tấc đến giời
Talking an inch and reaching heaven — exaggeration achieving orbit.
nói ngang cành bứa
Talk crosswise as a bứa branch — argument that grows at right angles to sense.
nói người phải ngẫm đến ta Thử sờ lên gáy xem xa hay gần Nói người phải ngẫm đến thân Thử sờ lên gáy xem gần hay xa
Speaking of others, weigh yourself — feel the back of your own neck and judge how near it lands.
nói ngọt lọt đến xương
Sweet words slip through to the bone — honeyed speech penetrates where force cannot.
nói như phát, nhát như cheo
Loud as an axe, timid as a mouse-deer — the boom of the voice inversely sized to the nerve.
nói như rót vào tai
Speech poured straight into the ear — persuasion that flows without a drop spilled.
nói như rồng
Talking like a dragon — grand speech; delivery outrunning substance.
nói như rựa chém xuống đất
Words like a machete into earth — speech that lands once, deep, and stays.
nói thằng cuội
Talking like the Man in the Moon — Cuội's own genre: fluent, charming, false.