諺語 · a single proverb
讀書百遍，其義自見
What does 讀書百遍，其義自見 (dú shū bǎi biàn qí yì zì jiàn) mean?
讀書百遍，其義自見 (dú shū bǎi biàn qí yì zì jiàn) is a folk proverb (yànyǔ 諺語). Word for word it reads "read a book a hundred times, its meaning reveals itself." In use it means: Read a difficult text repeatedly and its meaning will eventually become clear on its own. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Wood note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Snake.
Literally: "read a book a hundred times, its meaning reveals itself."
The reading
The hundred readings are not the same reading done a hundred times. Each one arrives with a different reader-someone slightly older, slightly changed by what happened between readings-and finds something slightly different on the page. The text has not changed; the reader has. And at some reading-not predictably the hundredth but somewhere in the accumulation-the meaning stands up and becomes plain. Not forced out but arrived at through faithful return.
What kind of proverb it is
Source Wei Lue 魏略 (Records of Wei, quoted in Pei Songzhi's annotations to Sanguozhi 三國志)
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 Wisdom & Learning, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Snake, Year of the Frog, and Year of the Rat.
Questions
Is 讀書百遍，其義自見 a real Chinese proverb?
Yes. 讀書百遍，其義自見 (dú shū bǎi biàn qí yì zì jiàn) is a folk proverb (yànyǔ 諺語), and it comes from Wei Lue 魏略 (Records of Wei, quoted in Pei Songzhi's annotations to Sanguozhi 三國志). 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 讀書百遍，其義自見?
In Mandarin it is dú shū bǎi biàn qí yì zì jiàn. Read the pinyin above each character to follow the tones, or press the speaker beside the calligraphy to hear your browser read 讀書百遍，其義自見 aloud in Mandarin.