Chinese idioms from the Dao De Jing
大辩若讷 (dà biàn ruò nè)
Word for word from chapter 45
大辩若讷 (dà biàn ruò nè), “great eloquence seems to stammer”, comes from chapter 45 of the Dao De Jing and means that the truly eloquent seem slow of speech.
Character by character
| 大 | dà | great, big |
|---|---|---|
| 辩 | biàn | eloquence; to argue |
| 若 | ruò | like, as if |
| 讷 | nè | to stammer |
| 大辩若讷 | Truly eloquent people speak little and may seem slow of speech. | |
Where it comes from
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大直若屈，
Great straightness seems bent,
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大巧若拙，
great skill seems clumsy,
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大辩若讷。
great eloquence seems to stammer.
How the meaning moved
The phrase closes three sayings in chapter 45: “Great straightness seems bent, great skill seems clumsy, great eloquence seems to stammer.” 辩 is skill in speech and argument; 讷 is slow, halting speech.
The book is sparing with words. Chapter 56 opens: “Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know.” The last chapter, 81, says: “The good do not argue; those who argue are not good,” with the same character 辩. Great eloquence, then, is not a flow of words: it says little, and what it says carries. Later it was said of people: Taiwan's Ministry of Education dictionary quotes a Tang dynasty eulogy by Yang Jiong, “great eloquence seems to stammer, and in every post he held he won renown” (大辩若讷，历官有声). Today it is said of someone who talks little but speaks to the point.
Using it today
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他平时话不多，可一到关键时刻，几句话就说服了大家，真是大辩若讷。
tā píng shí huà bù duō, kě yī dào guān jiàn shí kè, jǐ jù huà jiù shuō fú le dà jiā, zhēn shì dà biàn ruò nè.
He doesn't usually say much, but when it matters a few words of his win everyone over: great eloquence seems to stammer.
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大辩若讷，会说话的人不一定说得多。
dà biàn ruò nè, huì shuō huà de rén bù yī dìng shuō de duō.
Great eloquence seems to stammer: people who speak well do not necessarily speak much.