胜者王侯败者寇

shèng zhě wáng hóu bài zhě kòu

the winners become princes and marquises; the losers are vilified as bandits (idiom)

history is written by the victors

胜

shèng

victory

者

zhě

(after a verb or adjective) one who (is) ...

王

wáng

king or monarch

侯

hóu

marquis, second of the five orders of ancient Chinese nobility 五等爵位[wu3 deng3 jue2 wei4]

败

bài

to defeat

者

zhě

(after a verb or adjective) one who (is) ...

寇

kòu

old variant of 寇[kou4]