English · Proverb Candidate

easier said than done

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Plans are simpler to propose than to execute

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Kế hoạch dễ đề xuất hơn thực hiện

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

But I knew that was easier said than done.

This is usually easier said than done as they rust and are difficult to find.

British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Equivalents & related

Near equivalent nói dễ, làm khó Easier said than done. Tiếng Việt Near equivalent east is east, and west is west (and never the twain shall meet) Two things are fundamentally incompatible and can never come together. English · via nói dễ, làm khó

Lighter cards are two steps away in the meaning graph — equivalents of equivalents, reached via the entry shown on the card.

Common questions

What does “easier said than done” mean?

Plans are simpler to propose than to execute

Is “easier said than done” formal or informal?

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

What is the closest equivalent?

“nói dễ, làm khó” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.