好汉不吃眼前亏

hǎo hàn bù chī yǎn qián kuī

a wise man knows better than to fight when the odds are against him (idiom)

hǎo

good

hàn

the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD)

no; not so

chī

variant of 吃[chi1]

yǎn

eye (CL:隻|只[zhi1],雙|双[shuang1])

qián

front

kuī

to lose (money); to have a deficit