These idioms represent 2 opposite philosophies of knowledge and practice :
1. to know something is easy, to do it is hard ( 知易行難 )
2. to know something is hard, to do it is easy ( 知難行易 )
I would think,
[1] means : to know how to do something is easy, to really do it is hard.
[2] means : to learn and know something is hard, but once you got it, doing is easy.
From what I know,
[1] originated from traditional Confucian thinking
[2] is used by Dr. Sun Yat-sen (father of modern China) when referring to revolutions as some concept hard to make the general public understand why, but once they got it, carrying it out would be easy (with strong support)
Which philosophy makes more sense to you ?
For me, I would think - relativity - it depends on the situations !
知 = know, 行 = do, 易 = easy, 難 = hard
Filed under: idioms | Tagged: Chinese idiom, Chinese quote, Confucian, do, easy, hard, idiom, know, philosophy, practice, quote, revolution, Sun Yat-sen, theory
