百闻不如一见

百聞不如一見

bǎiwénbùrúyījiàn

idiom #53,102

Meanings

1 hearing a hundred times is not as good as seeing once
2 seeing is believing

Characters

Examples

到了长城才知道什么叫百闻不如一见。

Dào le Chángchéng cái zhīdào shénme jiào bǎi wén bù rú yī jiàn.

Only after reaching the Great Wall did I understand what 'seeing is believing' means.

百闻不如一见，你自己去看看就明白了。

Bǎi wén bù rú yī jiàn, nǐ zìjǐ qù kàn kàn jiù míngbai le.

Seeing is believing; go take a look yourself and you'll understand.

朋友夸了那家餐厅好多次，今天一尝，果然百闻不如一见。

Péngyǒu kuā le nà jiā cāntīng hǎoduō cì, jīntiān yī cháng, guǒrán bǎi wén bù rú yī jiàn.

My friend raved about that restaurant many times; one taste today proved seeing is truly better than hearing.

Tips

history

From 《汉书·赵充国传》: Han-dynasty general Zhao Chongguo, asked to plan a campaign against the Qiang from afar, replied 百闻不如一见, 兵难遥度 — 'war is hard to judge at a distance,' and insisted on inspecting the frontier himself before advising the emperor.

Stroke Order

百 bǎi

闻 wén

不 bù

如 rú

一 yī

见 jiàn