十年树木，百年树人
shí​nián​shù​mù​bǎi​nián​shù​rén

it takes ten years to grow a tree, but a hundred to cultivate a person

  1. 十年树木 十年樹木 shí​nián​shù​mù
    it takes ten years to grow a tree
    it takes a long time to cultivate trees; often used as the first half of a proverb to contrast the time needed for physical growth with the much longer time needed for human education
  2. ， bǎi
    non-Chinese
  3. 百年树人 百年樹人 bǎi​nián​shù​rén
    it takes a century to train a person
    It takes many years to cultivate talented people or raise children to be upstanding citizens; often used with 十年树木 shí​nián​shù​mù to emphasize that education is a long-term project