养兵千日,用兵一时

yǎng bīng qiān rì , yòng bīng yī shí

lit. Train an army for a thousand days to use it for an hour. (idiom); fig. extensive preparation eventually pays off

yǎng

to raise (animals)

bīng

soldiers

qiān

used in 鞦韆|秋千[qiu1 qian1]

abbr. for 日本[Ri4 ben3], Japan

,

yòng

to use; to make use of; to employ

bīng

soldiers

one

shí

o'clock