easier said than done

English

Pronunciation

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Adjective

easier said than done (comparative form only)

1. (idiomatic) Easy to propose, but difficult to accomplish.

   Antonyms: piece of cake; see also Thesaurus:easy thing

   • 1858, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II of Prussia, called Frederick the Great, volume 1, page 288:

     Which is a thing more easily said, than made good in the way of doing.

   • 2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Scott Parker was desperately urging England's players to keep possession - but it was easier said than done amid waves of Ukraine attacks and it needed a penalty area block from the Tottenham midfield man to thwart Devic.

Translations

easy to propose, but difficult to accomplish

• Catalan: del prometre al complir, hi ha molt de tros per penedir, una cosa és predicar i una altra és donar blat, és més fàcil dir-ho que fer-ho
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 談何容易／谈何容易 (zh) (tánhéróngyì), 說得倒輕巧／说得倒轻巧 (shuō de dào qīng qiao)

• Danish: lettere sagt end gjort
• Dutch: makkelijker gezegd dan gedaan
• Finnish: helpommin sanottu kuin tehty
• French: plus facile à dire qu’à faire (fr)
• German: leichter gesagt als getan
• Hebrew: בין אמר לעשה ת"ק פרסה
• Hungarian: könnyebb mondani, mint megtenni, könnyű mondani
• Icelandic: hægara sagt en gert, (it is easier said than done) það er hægara sagt en gert, hægara ort en gert, (it is easier said than done) það er hægara ort en gert
• Italian: più facile a dirsi che a farsi
• Japanese: 言うは易く行うは難し (ja) (iu wa yasuku okonau wa katashi), 言うは易し (iu wa yasushi)
• Latin: facilius est dictū quam factū
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lettere sagt enn gjort

• Polish: łatwo powiedzieć
• Portuguese: é mais fácil dizer do que fazer, é mais fácil falar do que fazer
• Russian: про́ще сказа́ть, чем сде́лать (próšče skazátʹ, čem sdélatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: lakše reći nego učiniti
• Spanish: es fácil decirlo, es más fácil decirlo que hacerlo, del dicho al hecho hay mucho trecho, que se dice pronto, una cosa es predicar, y otra dar trigo
• Swedish: lättare sagt än gjort