Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

bạo đầu thì dại, bạo dái thì khôn

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Being reckless at the start is foolish, but being bold later is wise

Literally: rash beginning foolish, rash end wise

Examples

Anh ấy bạo đầu thì dại, bạo dái thì khôn trong việc kinh doanhHe was reckless at the start but bold later, which was wise in his business

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Discovered via Tục ngữ, cổ ngữ, gia ngôn (Huỳnh Tịnh Của, 1897; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Tục ngữ, cổ ngữ, gia ngôn (Huỳnh Tịnh Của, 1897). Source gloss (Vietnamese): “Con người phải cho dè dặt, chớ khá nhẹ dạ, hốp tốp. Bạo đầu là táo bạo lúc ban đầu.” Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “bạo đầu thì dại, bạo dái thì khôn” mean?

Being reckless at the start is foolish, but being bold later is wise Literally: rash beginning foolish, rash end wise

Is “bạo đầu thì dại, bạo dái thì khôn” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.