小洞不堵，大洞難補 xiǎo dòng bù dǔ ， dà dòng nán bǔ

DEFINITIONS

  1. If you don't plug the small hole, the big hole will be hard to repair (idiom); A stitch in time saves nine.

CHARACTERS

小 xiǎo
HSK 1
small, tiny, insignificant
洞 dòng
HSK 5
cave, grotto; ravine; hole
不 bù
HSK 1
no, not; un-; negative prefix
堵 dǔ
HSK 4
wall; stop, prevent; stop up
大 dà
HSK 1
big, great, vast, large, high
洞 dòng
HSK 5
cave, grotto; ravine; hole
難 nán difficult, arduous, hard; unable
補 bǔ mend, patch, fix, repair, restore