水浅养不住大鱼

shuǐ qiǎn yǎng bù zhù dà yú

lit. shallow waters cannot harbor big fish (idiom)

fig. ambitious, talented people cannot reach their full potential in a small organization

shuǐ

water

qiǎn

shallow

yǎng

to raise (animals)

no; not so

zhù

to live

big; large; great

fish (CL:條|条[tiao2],尾[wei3])