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

养

yǎng

to raise (animals)

兵

bīng

soldiers

千

qiān

used in 鞦韆|秋千[qiu1 qian1]

日

rì

abbr. for 日本[Ri4 ben3], Japan

,

,

用

yòng

to use; to make use of; to employ

兵

bīng

soldiers

一

yī

one

时

shí

o'clock