The teacher often says hard work makes up for clumsiness.
Tips
history
Traced to Song poet 邵雍 Shào Yōng's 《弄笔吟》 (Lòngbǐ Yín, "Playing with the Brush"): 将勤补拙 — "use diligence to patch what's clumsy." The four-character form became the standard idiom.
usage
A very common encouragement phrase from teachers and parents. Often paired with 笨鸟先飞 (bèn niǎo xiān fēi, "the slow bird flies first") for the same hard-work-beats-talent message.
