冰冻三尺，非一日之寒

bīng dòng sān chǐ , fēi yī rì zhī hán

three feet of ice does not form in a single day (idiom); Rome wasn't built in a day

冰

bīng

variant of 冰[bing1]

冻

dòng

to freeze

三

sān

three

尺

chǐ

a Chinese foot

，

,

非

fēi

abbr. for 非洲[Fei1 zhou1], Africa

一

yī

one

日

rì

abbr. for 日本[Ri4 ben3], Japan

之

zhī

(possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的[de5])

寒

hán

cold