好记性不如烂笔头

hǎo jì xìng bù rú làn bǐ tóu

the palest ink is better than the best memory (idiom)

hǎo

good

to record

xìng

nature

no; not so

as

làn

soft; mushy

writing brush; writing implement (pen, pencil etc) (CL:支[zhi1],枝[zhi1])

tóu

head