諺語 · a single proverb
日久見人心
Simplified: 日久见人心
What does 日久見人心 (rì jiǔ jiàn rén xīn) mean?
日久見人心 (rì jiǔ jiàn rén xīn) is a folk proverb (yànyǔ 諺語). Word for word it reads "as the days pass, you see a person's heart." In use it means: Time is the ultimate revealer of character; what cannot be faked forever is truth. 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 Dog.
Literally: "as the days pass, you see a person's heart."
The reading
The performance lasts a week. Maybe a month. Then the real person begins to show through the cracks in the costume. Time is not on the side of the pretender. It is on the side of truth, because truth does not need energy to sustain itself, and pretense does.
What kind of proverb it is
Source Common folk proverb; found in Zengguang Xianwen 增廣賢文
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 Dog, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.
Questions
Is 日久見人心 a real Chinese proverb?
Yes. 日久見人心 (rì jiǔ jiàn rén xīn) is a folk proverb (yànyǔ 諺語), and it comes from Common folk proverb; found in Zengguang Xianwen 增廣賢文. 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 日久見人心?
In Mandarin it is rì jiǔ jiàn rén xīn. Read the pinyin above each character to follow the tones, or press the speaker beside the calligraphy to hear your browser read 日久見人心 aloud in Mandarin.