諺語 · a single proverb
冰凍三尺，非一日之寒
Simplified: 冰冻三尺，非一日之寒
What does 冰凍三尺，非一日之寒 (bīng dòng sān chǐ, fēi yī rì zhī hán) mean?
冰凍三尺，非一日之寒 (bīng dòng sān chǐ, fēi yī rì zhī hán) is a folk proverb (yànyǔ 諺語). Word for word it reads "three feet of ice is not the cold of a single day." In use it means: Nothing deep forms overnight, whether a skill, a habit, or a ruin; it is the slow sum of many unremarkable days. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Water note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Rat.
Literally: "three feet of ice is not the cold of a single day."
The reading
The ice that can hold your weight was not laid down last night; it took a hundred quiet cold hours you never counted. Whatever has grown thick in you, for good or for ill, was built one ordinary day at a time, so watch the days.
The story
The image is drawn from Wang Chong's Han-dynasty Lunheng, in the chapter Zhuang Liu, and hardened into a common proverb: three feet of ice is not the cold of a single day. It is used to explain that nothing deep forms overnight, a skill, a habit, or a ruin alike being the slow sum of many unremarkable days.
Whatever has grown thick in you, for good or ill, was laid down one ordinary day at a time, so watch the days rather than the milestones. Add one small honest layer to what you are building today, and stop expecting the ice to bear your weight after a single night.
What kind of proverb it is
Source 《論衡·狀留》 by 王充 (Wang Chong, Han dynasty)
Sits beside
Keep reading
Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in Humility & Self-Mastery, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Rat, Year of the Ox, and Year of the Tiger.
Questions
Is 冰凍三尺，非一日之寒 a real Chinese proverb?
Yes. 冰凍三尺，非一日之寒 (bīng dòng sān chǐ, fēi yī rì zhī hán) is a folk proverb (yànyǔ 諺語), and it comes from 《論衡·狀留》 by 王充 (Wang Chong, Han dynasty). It is living Chinese heritage, given here with per-character pinyin and its source so you can trust the line, not a phrase invented in English.
How do you pronounce 冰凍三尺，非一日之寒?
In Mandarin it is bīng dòng sān chǐ, fēi yī rì zhī hán. Read the pinyin above each character to follow the tones, or press the speaker beside the calligraphy to hear your browser read 冰凍三尺，非一日之寒 aloud in Mandarin.