Great Vessels Take Longer to Complete

Characters:

Pronunciation: Da(4) Qi(4) Wan(3) Cheng(2)

Explanation: Meaning "a great mind takes longer to mature", it is used to describe people of great talents who often become famous in their later years and also to console people who have over long years failed to make a name for themselves.

The Story: Ma Yuan of the early Eastern Han Dynasty lost his parents when he was twelve. So his elder brother Ma Kuang raised him.

Ma Yuan was lofty minded even when he was young, but he was not particularly talented. At the same time, there was another boy named Zhu Bo, who could recite the Book of Odes and Book of History at twelve. Sighing over the fact that he was not as smart as Zhu, Ma Yuan begged his brother to send him to the frontier regions where he would spend his life herding. Ma Kuang advised his brother, saying, "For Zhu Bo, it is a case of Small Vessels Talking a Short Time to Complete, because he only has that much of talent. For you, it is a case of Great Vessels Taking Longer to Complete. You should make a firm resolution and work hard and I believe you will definitely have a bright future."

From then on, Ma Yuan no longer abandoned himself to despair, and instead he studied diligently. He later served as prefect of Xincheng and governor of Longxi. At fifty-five, he became General of Fupo and was made the Marquis of Xinxi.

Usage Example (Pinyin): bie(2) shang(1) xin(1), ni(3) shu(3) yu(2) da(4) qi(4) wan(3) cheng(2) de ren(2).

Usage Example (English translation): Don't be upset. Great vessels takes longer to complete, just like you.

Note: The spoken Chinese Mandarin language has 4 spoken tones. We have attempted to re-create those above where after each syllable we tell you (1), (2), (3), or (4) as they correspond to each of the 4 tones. We encourage you to complement your Xianzai.com Chinese Idioms newsletter with a good offline study program.