Thuyền đua thì lái cũng đua, thuyền lên trên bờ, thì lái chết toi
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
When things go well, everyone contributes, but when things go badly, everyone suffers
Khi mọi việc tốt đẹp, mọi người đóng góp, nhưng khi mọi việc tồi tệ, mọi người đều chịu đựng
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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 2026-08-08; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Thuyền đua thì lái cũng đua, thuyền lên trên bờ, thì lái chết toi” mean?
When things go well, everyone contributes, but when things go badly, everyone suffers Literally: Racing boat then sailor also races, boat on shore, sailor dies
Is “Thuyền đua thì lái cũng đua, thuyền lên trên bờ, thì lái chết toi” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.