đắng cũng là ruột, ngọt cũng người dưng
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Bitter, still your gut; sweet, still a stranger — kin's harsh truth outranks outsiders' honey.
Examples
Editorial example (VI sweep batch 040, illustrative)
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). Definition is an original editorial synthesis, not copied from the source.
Common questions
What does “đắng cũng là ruột, ngọt cũng người dưng” mean?
Bitter, still your gut; sweet, still a stranger — kin's harsh truth outranks outsiders' honey. Literally: bitter is still innards; sweet is still an outsider
Is “đắng cũng là ruột, ngọt cũng người dưng” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.