thấp đuốc tìm giàu, giàu chẳng thấy, cầm gươm chém khó, khó theo sau
Torch-hunt wealth and never see it; sword-chase poverty and it follows behind — fortune obeys fate, not pursuit.
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All languages English Tiếng Việt
thất bại là mẹ thành công
Close to the English saying: “Failure is the mother of success.”.
thất chi đòng ngung, thâu chi tang du
Lost at the east corner, recovered at the mulberry-west — the day's loss returned by evening's gain.
thấy bở thì đào, thấy mềm thì đục
Dig where it's crumbly, chisel where it's soft — working every easy mark for all they'll yield.
thấy ông bà ông vải
Seeing one's ancestors — run so far past exhaustion you glimpse the other side.
thấy đỏ tưởng chín
Mistaking red for ripe.
thần cây đa, ma cây gạo
The banyan keeps a god, the kapok keeps a ghost — each great tree its own resident spirit.
thần cơ diệu toán
Divine devices and miraculous sums — strategy so exact it reads like prophecy.
thần hồn nát thần tính
the person in question is/was scared of their own shadow; the person in question inadvertently scares/scared themselves; the person in question has/had an irrational fear
thần nanh đỏ mỏ
kind of bird-like monster in Vietnamese folklore that pecks the dead
thần vong xỉ hàn
Lips gone, teeth cold — lose the neighbor and the frost reaches you; allied fates, adjacent walls.
thần xuất quỉ một
Appearing like gods, vanishing like spirits — maneuvers too quick and clean for any eye to fix.
thầy bói xem voi
to see only a part of the whole; to draw incorrect conclusions due to a partial understanding
thầy có của sải có công
The abbot has the goods, the monk has the labor — one supplies, the other sweats; partnership of purse and hands.
thậm cấp chí nguy
Utmost urgency, extreme peril — the situation at its most critical.
thận chung truy viễn
Careful at the ending, mindful of the distant — devotion that survives the parents it honors.
thập diện mai phục
Ambush on ten sides — surrounded so completely that every direction is the trap.
thập mục sở thị
Ten eyes watching — done in the open, before witnesses enough to settle it.
thập thất chi ấp, tất hữu trung tín
Even a hamlet of ten houses holds one faithful soul — decency is never entirely out of stock.
thật không
"Really?" — the doubt-check; Northern-flavored, with Southern speech preferring "thiệt hả" for the same raised eyebrow.
thật như đếm
Honest as counting — plain, transparent truthfulness.
thật sự mà nói
to be honest; honestly, frankly
thật thà cũng thể lái trâu Yêu nhau cũng thể nàng dâu mẹ chồng
As honest as a buffalo-trader, as loving as bride and mother-in-law — two proverbial impossibilities in one breath.
thật thà là cha dại
Honesty is folly's father — said of candor so artless it undoes its owner.
thật thà là cha quỉ quái
Honesty is the father of cunning — the guileless outlast every schemer in the end.
thắm da đẫy mình
Rosy-skinned and full-figured — a young woman in blooming health.
thắm tha thắm thiết
Blood-warm and iron-fast — affection dyed deep and holding like metal.
thắng làm vua, thua làm giặc
might makes right; the winner is always in the right and the loser is always in the wrong.
thắng như chẻ tre
to get wins after wins; to rake victories
thắng về nội, thối về ngoại
The paternal family (father's side) is credited with good things while the maternal family (mother's side) is blamed for bad things.
thắt chặt quai túi
Diving head-first into the thicket — refuge chosen entirely by panic.
thằng chột làm vua xứ mù
synonym of anh chột làm vua xứ mù (“in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king”)
thằng còng làm, thằng ngay ăn
The bent man labors, the straight man eats — toil and takings, distributed by posture.
thằng ngô con đĩ
Riffraff of the market corners — the despised drifters at society's bottom rung.
thằng ốm đánh vật
A sick man in a wrestling bout — straining far past one's strength with little hope of winning.
thẳng mục tàu đau lòng gỗ
The straight ink-line pains the timber — honest measure always hurts what's crooked.
thẳng như ruột ngựa
Completely frank and direct — saying exactly what one thinks, without scheming.
thẳng thắn, thật thà thường thua thiệt
The straight and honest usually lose out — candor pays the bill for others' cunning.
thẻ ghi nợ hoặc thẻ tín dụng
debit or credit card
thẻ vàng hoặc thẻ đỏ
yellow card or red card
thế cô lực bạc
Isolated in position, thin in strength — no allies, no reserves.
thế cơ à
Northern "oh, is that so?" — the particle "cơ" loads the surprise, anywhere from genuine amazement to raised-eyebrow disbelief.
thế gian còn dại chưa khôn Sống mặt áo rách, chết chôn áo lành
The world is still foolish, not yet wise — alive in torn shirts, buried in fine ones — spending on the dead what the living needed.
thế khuynh triều dã
Power tilting court and country — influence heavy enough to lean the whole state.
thế ngoại đào nguyên
A peach-blossom spring beyond the world — the hidden paradise every escape dreams of.
thế như phá trúc
Momentum like splitting bamboo — once the blade bites, every joint after gives way.
thế nhỉ
A reflective Northern "huh, true enough" — soft agreement that dawns on you mid-conversation rather than being declared.
thế thiên hành đạo
to enforce the (moral) Way on behalf of Heaven, to take the law into one's own hands
thế tại tất đắc
Positioned where winning is obligatory — committed past the option of losing.
thề cá trê chui ống
empty promise; vain promise; false promise
thề mắc thắt dối
Oaths tangle the false — swear enough and the perjury knots itself.
thể dục nhịp điệu dưới nước
water aerobics
thể nào
Used to emphasize the irresistible result of an event regardless: no matter what
thệ tề bất cập
Biting your own navel, too late — remorse gnawing at what no tooth can reach.
thỉ chung như nhứt
First and last as one — constancy without a single alteration.
thỉnh vật kiến tiếu
Please don't laugh at me — the scholar's modest preface to any offering.
thỉnh đa kiến lượng
Kindly bear with me — the formal plea for indulgence.
thị cổ phi kim
Praising the ancients to damn the present — nostalgia weaponized.
thị khả nhẫn, thục bất khả nhẫn
If this can be borne, what cannot — cruelty so far past bearing it defines the limit.
thị tắc hành, phi tắc chỉ
Right, then act; wrong, then stop — decision is the hinge; hesitation does neither.
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