Posts Tagged ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover’

以貌取人失之子羽 Judging a talent solely by appearance is an injustice

landawei Posted in Chinese proverb，Tags: ,
03 September 2010
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以貌取人失之子羽

以貌取人失之子羽 (yǐ mào qǔ rén shī zhī zǐ yǔ) means “judging a talent solely by appearance is an injustice”.

If you are a new reader to “My China Connection” you may ask, “why is he writing about Chinese proverbs?”

1) you are probably familiar with this in Chinese, not in English.   As I tell the story in English, I select vocabulary that will help you.   2) I get to learn something interesting.

Confucius 孔子 had a student named Zi Yu 字羽 .   Zi Yu wanted to study under Confucius’ tutelage, but Confucius was somewhat reluctant at first.  You see, Zi Yu was grotesque and appalling in appearance.

Zi Yu entreated Confucius to accept him and eventually Confucius consented.   Zi Yu wanted to overcome Confucius’ initial bias, so he was a model student.   He did more than was required of him to in his studies.

At the end of three years, because of his diligence, he exceeded his classmates in his moral and academic accomplishments.

Zi Yu moved to the State of Wu after completing his studies and founded an academy based upon Confucian principles.   The school flourished and its influence was felt far and wide.

Naturally, Confucius was now euphoric about the student of whom he initially judged by appearance.

Confucius admitted that his first assessment of Zi Yu was flawed.  “Selecting talents only by their appearance, I have done injustice to Zi Yu.”

Today in China, people cite Confucius’ words  以貌取人失之子羽 to underscore that one is in error if they judge talents on the basis of one’s physical appearance.

After learning about this proverb, I think the closest English equivalent is “you can’t judge a book by its cover“.

You can’t judge a book by its cover

landawei Posted in English proverb，Tags: ,
03 September 2010
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更多中文解释请点粗体字, 由 iciba.com 提供

“You can’t judge a book by its cover” means that you should reserve judgment regarding external appearances.  What you initially conclude about a matter may not be accurate, your assessment may not be reliable.

It can be used to describe vanity.  The first example implies that.

In some cases, one could substitute this phrase with “all that glitters is not gold“.  Here’s an example:

“Candy is really very beautiful, but once you get to know her, she’s very phony and shallow.  You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Here’s an example where “all that glitters is not gold” would not work:

“Oliver drove an old car and his clothes were not at all fashionable, but in reality he was one of the wealthiest men in town.  You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Is there a way you can express “you can’t judge a book by its cover” in Chinese?   If there is, please leave a message in the comment section!  Comments are always welcome.  So are questions!  You can leave a question in the comment section or a special location “English Questions”.

Susan Boyle looks rather plain, but she's a fabulous singer. She became world famous on the British talent show "Britain's Got Talent". You can't judge a book by its cover.