不管白貓黑貓,捉住老鼠就是好貓 bù guǎn bái māo hēi māo , zhuō zhù lǎo shǔ jiù shì hǎo māo

DEFINITIONS

  1. it doesn't matter whether a cat is white or black; as long as it catches mice it's a good cat (variant of a Sichuanese saying used in a speech by Deng Xiaoping 鄧小平|邓小平[Deng4 Xiao3 ping2] in 1962, usually associated with his economic reforms starting in 1978, in which pragmatism was favored over ideological purity)

CHARACTERS

不 bù no, not; un-; negative prefix
管 guǎn pipe, tube, duct; woodwind music
白 bái white; pure, unblemished; bright
貓 māo cat
黑 hēi black; dark; evil, sinister
貓 māo cat
捉 zhuō grasp, clutch; catch, seize
住 zhù reside, live at, dwell, lodge; stop
老 lǎo old, aged; experienced
鼠 shǔ rat, mouse; KangXi radical 208
就 jiù just, simply; to come, go to; to approach, near
是 shì indeed, yes, right; to be; demonstrative pronoun, this, that
好 hǎo good, excellent, fine; well
貓 māo cat