諺語 · a single proverb
刮目相待
What does 刮目相待 (guā mù xiāng dài) mean?
刮目相待 (guā mù xiāng dài) is a four-character classical idiom (chéngyǔ 成語). Word for word it reads "rub the eyes and look anew." In use it means: To see someone with fresh eyes, recognizing how much they have changed. The person in front of you is not the person you remember. Wipe the old image away and see who is actually standing there now. 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 Dragon.
Literally: "rub the eyes and look anew."
The reading
You knew them at seventeen. They are forty now. The stories you tell about them are twenty-three years out of date. Wipe your eyes. Look again. The quiet kid became a leader. The troublemaker became a teacher. People are not photographs. They are rivers, and rivers change course. Your job is to look at the river, not the map you drew in high school.
What kind of proverb it is
Source Records of the Three Kingdoms 三國志, Wu Shu 吳書 (Lü Meng 呂蒙 story)
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 Friendship, Trust & Speech, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Dragon, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.
Questions
Is 刮目相待 a real Chinese proverb?
Yes. 刮目相待 (guā mù xiāng dài) is a four-character classical idiom (chéngyǔ 成語), and it comes from Records of the Three Kingdoms 三國志, Wu Shu 吳書 (Lü Meng 呂蒙 story). 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 刮目相待?
In Mandarin it is guā mù xiāng dài. Read the pinyin above each character to follow the tones, or press the speaker beside the calligraphy to hear your browser read 刮目相待 aloud in Mandarin.