好事多磨
hǎo shì duō mó
the road to something good is often bumpy
Character by character
好hǎo
good
good
事shì
thing
thing
多duō
many
many
磨mó
grind
grind
Example
他们的婚礼推迟了两次，真是好事多磨。
Their wedding was put off twice: the course of true love never did run smooth.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
Said to comfort someone whose plans keep hitting delays, or when looking back on a happy ending: 别着急，好事多磨. It assumes the outcome is or will be good; do not use it of plain bad luck.
Learn this in Lesson 185 · HSK 7–9: 吉利收购沃尔沃 (Geely buys Volvo)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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