諺語 · a single proverb
好事多磨
What does 好事多磨 (hǎo shì duō mó) mean?
好事多磨 (hǎo shì duō mó) is a four-character classical idiom (chéngyǔ 成語). Word for word it reads "good things suffer much grinding." In use it means: Worthwhile outcomes rarely arrive without delay and obstacle. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Earth note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Goat.
Literally: "good things suffer much grinding."
The reading
The thing you want most is taking the longest, and you have started to read the delay as a no. Read it differently. What comes easily is rarely worth guarding; what is ground against stone this long is being made to last. The obstacle is not the detour. It is the toll.
The story
The four characters crystallized in Dong Jieyuan's Jin-dynasty 西廂記諸宮調, the sung version of the Western Chamber romance, where the lovers' path to each other is blocked at every turn. The phrase names an old consolation: good things are ground against stone before they arrive, and the grinding is not the detour but the toll.
When the thing you want most is the thing taking longest, stop reading the delay as a refusal. What comes easily is rarely worth guarding, so treat each obstacle as the price of durability and keep paying it.
What kind of proverb it is
Source Dong Jieyuan 董解元, 西廂記諸宮調 (Master Dong's Western Chamber Romance), Jin 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 Timing & Fortune's Turning, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Goat, Year of the Horse, and Year of the Ox.
Questions
Is 好事多磨 a real Chinese proverb?
Yes. 好事多磨 (hǎo shì duō mó) is a four-character classical idiom (chéngyǔ 成語), and it comes from Dong Jieyuan 董解元, 西廂記諸宮調 (Master Dong's Western Chamber Romance), Jin 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 好事多磨?
In Mandarin it is hǎo shì duō mó. Read the pinyin above each character to follow the tones, or press the speaker beside the calligraphy to hear your browser read 好事多磨 aloud in Mandarin.