Đói thì đầu gối phải bò, no thì cái giò không muốn bước

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

When in need, one must be proactive, but when satisfied, one becomes complacent

Literally: When hungry, knees must crawl, when full, legs don't want to walk

Examples

Anh ấy chỉ tìm việc khi mất việc, chứ không chủ động tìm trướcHe only looks for a job when he's lost his, but doesn't take initiative beforehand

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

Sources & notes

Headword listed in the vdict.com proverb dictionary index (discovery source; headword only — no source content copied). Entered as candidate 2026-08-05; definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-08; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “Đói thì đầu gối phải bò, no thì cái giò không muốn bước” mean?

When in need, one must be proactive, but when satisfied, one becomes complacent Literally: When hungry, knees must crawl, when full, legs don't want to walk

Is “Đói thì đầu gối phải bò, no thì cái giò không muốn bước” formal or informal?

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

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