Tốt gỗ hơn tốt nước sơn, xấu người đẹp nết còn hơn đẹp người
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Inner qualities are more important than appearance
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 “Tốt gỗ hơn tốt nước sơn, xấu người đẹp nết còn hơn đẹp người” mean?
Inner qualities are more important than appearance Literally: Good wood is better than good paint, bad person with good manners is better than beautiful person
Is “Tốt gỗ hơn tốt nước sơn, xấu người đẹp nết còn hơn đẹp người” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.