Know the face but not the heart(zhī rén zhī miàn bù zhī xīn)

Know the face but not the heart

It's an old saying that people know their faces but not their hearts. It's easy to know a person, but it's hard to understand his heart.

source

In the 45th chapter of Water Margin, Yang Xiong scolds pan Qiao for killing Pei Ruhai with his drunkenness: "it's hard to draw bones when painting dragons and tigers, but it's hard to know people's faces but not their hearts." The 51st chapter of Jin Ping Mei CI Hua written by Lan Ling Xiaosheng in Ming Dynasty: "I still regard him as a good person. I know people and face, but I don't know heart. Where can I see people?"

Examples

Feng jie'er deliberately put her feet late. Seeing that he had gone away, she thought to herself, "this is' ～ '. There are people like this (Chapter 11 of a dream of Red Mansions by Cao Xueqin in the Qing Dynasty) "it's hard to draw a dragon or a tiger, but it's hard to draw a bone. You know a person's face, but you don't know your heart."

Separate interpretation of words

Knowing people: 1. To be able to judge people's conduct and ability. 2. Understand personnel. 3. Know the way of personnel change. Intimate: 1. They agree with each other. A person who knows each other well; a deep acquaintance. 3. Intimate words.

Chinese PinYin : zhī rén zhī miàn bù zhī xīn