<p>No but Americans seem to think it is, since at least 1977.</p>

<p><a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/01/26/doing/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/01/26/doing/</a></p>

<p>"In 1977 “The Marietta Daily Journal” of Marietta, Georgia labeled the remark an “old Chinese proverb”:</p>

<p>There is an old Chinese proverb that says, “Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it."</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-13T06:56:25.850Z
This might be correct, I guess.
dan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-13T02:51:39.383Z
2018-06-13T02:51:39.383Z
Vitaly Osipov
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/06/12/619140377/after-ivanka-trump-quotes-chinese-proverb-a-hunt-for-the-proverbial-author" rel="noreferrer">NPR</a> did a pretty good article covering this.</p>

<blockquote>
  <h1>After Ivanka Trump Quotes 'Chinese Proverb,' A Hunt For The Proverbial Author : NPR</h1>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Xhtns.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Xhtns.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a>
  <sub><sup>Ivanka Trump's quote of a Chinese proverb — "Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it." — prompted a search for the original source. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images</sup></sub></p>
  
  <p>On the eve of her father's meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Ivanka Trump seemed to be calling on her inner Yoda as she tweeted:</p>
  
  <p>"Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it."<br>
     -Chinese Proverb    </p>
  
  <p>Neat quote. But it was the first daughter's attribution to "Chinese Proverb" that sent social media sites into overdrive in China, where people scrambled to find who, among their ancestors, actually said this. </p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/AhB5s.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/AhB5s.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a>
  <sub><sup>After presidential adviser Ivanka Trump tweeted what she called a "Chinese Proverb," many in China (and beyond) tried in vain to track down the quote's author. Twitter/Screenshot by NPR</sup></sub></p>
  
  <p>After a thorough search of the Analects of Confucius, Taoist texts and everything in between, nothing definitive has come up. But that hasn't stopped millions of Chinese social media users from making wild guesses like these, straight from Weibo, one of China's most popular social media sites:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>临渊羡鱼不如退而结网 — It's better to knit a fishnet instead of standing by the river and hoping for fish. </li>
  <li>观棋不语真君子 — Don't give advice while watching others playing a chess game. </li>
  <li>勿以善小而不为 — Don't ignore small acts of kindness simply because they seem trivial. </li>
  <li>己所不欲，勿施於人 — Don't force others to do things you don't want to do yourself. </li>
  <li>吃不到葡萄说葡萄酸 — If you haven't tasted the grapes, don't say they're sour. </li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>A lack of a clear source for Trump's tweet has some people speculating the first daughter either made it up or, a more likely explanation, cut and pasted the saying from an unreliable website. In the meantime, the search for this "proverb" through ancient Chinese texts has become something of a viral Quixotic quest in China, filled with many a sarcastic comment:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>"Did you get that from a fortune cookie?"</p>
    
    <p>"估计是 fortune cookie 上学来的..."</p>
    
    <p>"Don't mistake something as a Chinese proverb simply because it's written in Chinese characters."</p>
    
    <p>"不能因为某句话上面配了个鬼画符的"中国字"，就觉得那是句中国谚语。——鲁迅"</p>
    
    <p>"Many foreigners make up Chinese proverbs much like we make up English ones."</p>
    
    <p>"都想多了。其实，很多欧美人说的中国谚语，都是他们自己编的，如同我们也编了他们的不少谚语。"</p>
    
    <p>"I think Jack Ma said that."</p>
    
    <p>"我想是马云说的。"</p>
    
    <p>"A Chinese proverb from Ivanka has killed the brain cells of Chinese netizens."</p>
    
    <p>"伊万卡一句中国谚语，累死了全中国网友脑细胞啊。"</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>And finally, a <a href="https://twitter.com/bokane/status/1006169043257028609" rel="noreferrer">tweet</a> from an actual Chinese literature scholar, Brendan O'Kane:</p>
  
  <p>"You can call any old [s***] a Chinese proverb on the internet."<br>
    — Confucius   </p>
  
  <p>Who knows? Maybe someday one of these might become a Chinese proverb, too.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-13T05:22:44.237Z
2018-06-13T05:30:01.670Z
2018-06-13T05:30:01.670Z
Mou某
<p>This was going around as a real proverb, any reality to it?  </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>’Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it’</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-12T11:40:03.953Z
Could you provide a notable instance of this sentence being used? A quick search turns up: [Quote Investigator](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/01/26/doing/), [Baidu Zhidao](https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/1707944337638513380.html).
Frenzy Li
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-12T12:05:20.527Z
Ivanka Trump's tweet was sent all over Chinese social media, nobody knows what she's talking about.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-12T12:32:30.363Z
May be she was being honest by saying "People who said the Trump family can't make financial gain via corruption should stay out of their way"
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-13T07:10:38.367Z
In fact, it's not close to any of old proverbs, but to a mordern net-lect: "*you can you up, no can no bb*". :) I believe Ivanka referenced this *sayings*! Lol
dan
<proverb>
Is this [Ivanka Trump] Chinese proverb real? —“Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it”
# Is this [Ivanka Trump] Chinese proverb real? —“Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it”

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-06-12)

This was going around as a real proverb, any reality to it?

> ’Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it’

**Tags:** proverb

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Could you provide a notable instance of this sentence being used? A quick search turns up: [Quote Investigator](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/01/26/doing/), [Baidu Zhidao](https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/1707944337638513380.html).  
> **username_2**: Ivanka Trump's tweet was sent all over Chinese social media, nobody knows what she's talking about.  
> **username_3**: May be she was being honest by saying "People who said the Trump family can't make financial gain via corruption should stay out of their way"  
> **username_4**: In fact, it's not close to any of old proverbs, but to a mordern net-lect: "*you can you up, no can no bb*". :) I believe Ivanka referenced this *sayings*! Lol  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2018-06-13. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

[NPR](https://www.npr.org/2018/06/12/619140377/after-ivanka-trump-quotes-chinese-proverb-a-hunt-for-the-proverbial-author) did a pretty good article covering this.

> # After Ivanka Trump Quotes 'Chinese Proverb,' A Hunt For The Proverbial Author : NPR
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/Xhtns.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/Xhtns.jpg)
> Ivanka Trump's quote of a Chinese proverb — "Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it." — prompted a search for the original source. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
>
> On the eve of her father's meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Ivanka Trump seemed to be calling on her inner Yoda as she tweeted:
>
> "Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it."  
> -Chinese Proverb
>
> Neat quote. But it was the first daughter's attribution to "Chinese Proverb" that sent social media sites into overdrive in China, where people scrambled to find who, among their ancestors, actually said this.
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/AhB5s.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/AhB5s.jpg)
> After presidential adviser Ivanka Trump tweeted what she called a "Chinese Proverb," many in China (and beyond) tried in vain to track down the quote's author. Twitter/Screenshot by NPR
>
> After a thorough search of the Analects of Confucius, Taoist texts and everything in between, nothing definitive has come up. But that hasn't stopped millions of Chinese social media users from making wild guesses like these, straight from Weibo, one of China's most popular social media sites:
>
> * 临渊羡鱼不如退而结网 — It's better to knit a fishnet instead of standing by the river and hoping for fish.
> * 观棋不语真君子 — Don't give advice while watching others playing a chess game.
> * 勿以善小而不为 — Don't ignore small acts of kindness simply because they seem trivial.
> * 己所不欲，勿施於人 — Don't force others to do things you don't want to do yourself.
> * 吃不到葡萄说葡萄酸 — If you haven't tasted the grapes, don't say they're sour.
>
> A lack of a clear source for Trump's tweet has some people speculating the first daughter either made it up or, a more likely explanation, cut and pasted the saying from an unreliable website. In the meantime, the search for this "proverb" through ancient Chinese texts has become something of a viral Quixotic quest in China, filled with many a sarcastic comment:
>
> > "Did you get that from a fortune cookie?"
> >
> > "估计是 fortune cookie 上学来的..."
> >
> > "Don't mistake something as a Chinese proverb simply because it's written in Chinese characters."
> >
> > "不能因为某句话上面配了个鬼画符的"中国字"，就觉得那是句中国谚语。——鲁迅"
> >
> > "Many foreigners make up Chinese proverbs much like we make up English ones."
> >
> > "都想多了。其实，很多欧美人说的中国谚语，都是他们自己编的，如同我们也编了他们的不少谚语。"
> >
> > "I think Jack Ma said that."
> >
> > "我想是马云说的。"
> >
> > "A Chinese proverb from Ivanka has killed the brain cells of Chinese netizens."
> >
> > "伊万卡一句中国谚语，累死了全中国网友脑细胞啊。"
>
> And finally, a [tweet](https://twitter.com/bokane/status/1006169043257028609) from an actual Chinese literature scholar, Brendan O'Kane:
>
> "You can call any old [s\*\*\*] a Chinese proverb on the internet."  
> — Confucius
>
> Who knows? Maybe someday one of these might become a Chinese proverb, too.


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2018-06-13. Score: 1

No but Americans seem to think it is, since at least 1977.

<https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/01/26/doing/>

"In 1977 “The Marietta Daily Journal” of Marietta, Georgia labeled the remark an “old Chinese proverb”:

There is an old Chinese proverb that says, “Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it."

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: This might be correct, I guess.  

---

