窃钩者诛，窃国者侯 in English qie4 gou1 zhe3 zhu1 , qie4 guo2 zhe3 hou2 Meaning

Meanings

  • steal a hook and they hang you, steal the whole country and they make you a prince (idiomatic expression, from Daoist classic Zhuangzi 莊子|庄子[Zhuang1 zi3])

Simplified Characters

窃 钩 者 诛 ， 窃 国 者 侯

Traditional Characters

竊 鉤 者 誅 ， 竊 國 者 侯

Pinyin

qie4 gou1 zhe3 zhu1 , qie4 guo2 zhe3 hou2

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

窃qie4to steal 钩gou1variant of 鉤|钩[gou1] 者zhe3(after a verb or adjective) one who (is) ... 诛zhu1to put (a criminal) to death ， 窃qie4to steal 国guo2surname Guo 者zhe3(after a verb or adjective) one who (is) ... 侯hou2surname Hou