떡 줄 사람은 생각도 않는데 김칫국부터 마신다.
“He drinks the kimchi broth before the person who might give him rice cake has even thought of it.”
Warns against assuming or celebrating an outcome before it has actually been decided or offered.
— Traditional Korean Wisdom (North Korea), North Korea
Source: Traditional North Korean proverb, public-domain oral tradition
More Proverbs from North Korea
Even monkeys fall from trees.
Even an expert or highly skilled person can sometimes make a mistake.
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The frog in the well does not know the great sea.
A person with limited experience cannot grasp the scale of the wider world.
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A habit formed at three lasts until eighty.
Habits learned in early childhood are extremely difficult to change later in life.
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Even a worm will wriggle when stepped on.
Even the most passive person will resist when pushed too far.
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Does smoke rise from a chimney that was never lit?
Every rumor or visible effect has some underlying real cause.
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Dripping eaves-water wears a hole in the stone.
Small, persistent effort eventually achieves great results.
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