Hoạ hổ hoạ bì nan hoạ cốt, tri nhân tri diện bất tri tâm
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
It's easy to know someone's appearance but hard to know their heart
Examples
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 2026-08-06; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Hoạ hổ hoạ bì nan hoạ cốt, tri nhân tri diện bất tri tâm” mean?
It's easy to know someone's appearance but hard to know their heart Literally: Painting a tiger's skin is easy, painting its bones is hard, knowing a person's face is easy, knowing their heart is hard
Is “Hoạ hổ hoạ bì nan hoạ cốt, tri nhân tri diện bất tri tâm” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.