飲yǐn水shuǐ不bù忘wàng掘jué井jǐng人rén

What does 飲水不忘掘井人 (yǐn shuǐ bù wàng jué jǐng rén) mean?

飲水不忘掘井人 (yǐn shuǐ bù wàng jué jǐng rén) is a folk proverb (yànyǔ 諺語). Word for word it reads "when drinking water, do not forget the one who dug the well." In use it means: Remember and honor the people whose earlier effort made your current comfort possible. Gratitude is the acknowledgment that nothing you enjoy arrived without cost to someone else. 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: "when drinking water, do not forget the one who dug the well."

The reading

The water is cold and clean and you drink it without thinking. Someone dug through rock for this. Someone lined the walls, someone hauled the dirt, someone did the work years before you were thirsty. Every convenience has an ancestor. Gratitude is just the honest recognition that you did not start from zero.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeyànyǔ 諺語
• FocusLooks back
• Element水 Water
• Zodiac tie狗 Year of the Dog

Source folk proverb 民間諺語; popularized in modern era

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 Home, Family & Roots, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Dog, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.