qiān zhī xíng , shǐ xià

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English Translation

lit.: A journey of a thousand li starts from the first step
fig.: Big accomplishments come from an accumulation of little achievements made one by one. A big journey needs to start somewhere.

Breaking it down

  1. 千: Thousand
  2. 里: li (unit of distance)
  3. 之: of
  4. 行: Travel, journey
  5. 始: To begin
  6. 于: affix, after a verb or an adjective
  7. 足: foot
  8. 下: under

Source: Google Image Search

Story in Chinese

春秋时期,著名的哲学家老子根据事物的发展规律提出谨小慎微和慎终如始的主张,他主张:处理问题要在它未发生以前。治理国家要在未乱之前。合抱的大树是细小的幼苗长成,九层的高台是一筐一筐泥土砌成的,千里远的行程是从脚下开始的。

Source: baike.baidu.com

Story in English

During the Spring and Autumn Period (), the famous philosopher Lao Tzu put forward to be overcautious regarding the development of things. He proposed: Deal with problems before they start to occur. Govern the country before chaos begins. Large trees are grown from small seedlings, and nine-story buildings are made from baskets and baskets of clay. A journey of a thousand miles starts right under the feet.

Translation by Celine Li

Usage

记住,千里之行,始于足下,不可懈怠,每天都要积累!