help with a chinese quote for a tattoo

[bnguye22]

hello all... i am trying to figure out what to get for my next tattoo. i am vietnamese and was told there is a chinese saying that goes somewhere along the lines of "one must be evil to be a man." have any of you actually heard of such a saying in chinese? i heard it in vietnamese but was told it is a chinese saying.

seeing as how tattoos are forever could someone help me also get the exact writing in chinese characters also?

thanks in advance,

Bryan

[rootfool]

I guess it's "无毒不丈夫":mrgreen:

[bnguye22]

hmm... the saying actually literally says one must be evil to be a man... or one must be capable of evil to be a man. i guess there is no such chinese saying then?

could someone translate "one must be capable of evil to be a man" for me?

[bnguye22]

and thanks rootfool and myriam for the replies

[Quest]

无毒不丈夫 is what you wanted.

[bnguye22]

so it is an actual chinese saying? or is this just a translation? either way thank you just wanted to clarfiy

[Quest]

It's a Chinese saying.

[bnguye22]

oh wow thanks... what is the actual translation of the saying? is it common? could it be referenced to an actual author?

thanks a bunch for all the help

Bryan

[adrianlondon]

"One who is not ruthless is not truly a great man" (Wenlin dict.)

Not my idea of a nice phrase; probably why I have no tattoos ;)

[bnguye22]

hmm.... i understand why you would say it is a negative saying. i wanted to get it as a tattoo because i believe even as a "good" person sometimes you have to be evil or ruthless to survive... or to protect your way of life. the obvious example would be war, war is not right, it is evil in every sense, but sometimes one must go to war to fight for what he believes in. another example would be stealing, it too is wrong, but what if your wife and children are starving at home?

to me the saying means sometimes you have to bear the brunt of the burden so that your family or friends do not have to. even though you may come out as a bad person on the exterior what you are really trying to do is protect the ones you love.

i hope that explains it.

Bryan

[Lu]

I would translate 无毒不丈夫 as 'if you are not evil/bad (lit. poisonous) you are not a man'. Not sure if that is what you mean, what I get from your explanation is more that the world sometimes forces people to be bad, but that in an ideal world being bad would not be necessary.

[bnguye22]

hmm... is it not possible for chinese sayings to have more than one meaning?

does anyone know who the author actually is? was he/she a horrible person?

Bryan