seeing is believing

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Proverb

seeing is believing

1. (idiomatic) One needs to see something in order to believe it; visible facts cannot be denied.

   They said their product will be ready for shipment in two months and we could even "take that to the bank", but we’ve heard that before. Seeing is believing.

   • 1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “How Lewis Baboon Came to Visit John Bull, and What Pass’d between Them”, in Lewis Baboon Turned Honest, and John Bull Politician. Being the Fourth Part of Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], London: […] John Morphew, […], →OCLC, page 21:

     There is nothing like Matter of Fact; Seeing is Believing.

   • 1848, J. C., A. W. Hare, Guesses at Truth, second edition, page 497:

     Seeing is believing, says the proverb. Though, of all our senses, the eyes are the most easily deceived, we believe them in preference to any other evidence.

2. (idiomatic) One is skeptical regarding a claim.

Coordinate terms

• believing is seeing

Translations

one needs to see something to believe it

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can

  South Levantine Arabic: الحكي مش متل الشوف (il-ḥaki miš mitl il-šōf)

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 百聞不如一見 / 百闻不如一见 (zh) (bǎi wén bùrú yī jiàn), 眼见为实 (zh)

• Dutch: eerst zien, dan geloven, zien is geloven
• Finnish: uskoo, ken näkee
• French: une image vaut mille mots (fr), ^{(please verify)} voir, c’est croire, il faut le voir pour le croire
• Georgian: ასჯერ გაგონილს ერთხელ ნანახი ჯობიაო (asǯer gagonils ertxel nanaxi ǯobiao)
• German: ein Bild sagt mehr als tausend Worte (de)
• Icelandic: sjón er sögu ríkari
• Irish: déanann fearann fianaise, déanann feiceáil fírinne
• Italian: vedere per credere
• Japanese: 百聞は一見に如かず (ja) (ひゃくぶんはいっけんにしかず, hyakubun wa ikken ni shikazu)
• Korean: 백문불여일견(百聞不如一見) (ko) (baengmunburyeoilgyeon)
• Latin: videre est credere
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: ver é crer
• Russian: лу́чше оди́н раз уви́деть, чем сто раз услы́шать (ru) (lúčše odín raz uvídetʹ, čem sto raz uslýšatʹ), уви́деть — э́то зна́чит пове́рить (uvídetʹ — éto znáčit povéritʹ), пока́ не уви́жу, не пове́рю (poká ne uvížu, ne povérju)
• Scottish Gaelic: b' fheàrr leam fhaicinn na a chluinntinn (literally “I'd rather see it than hear it”)
• Spanish: ver para creer
• Swedish: det tror jag när jag ser det
• Thai: สิบปากว่าไม่เท่าตาเห็น (th) (sìp-bpàak-wâa-mâi-tâo-dtaa-hěn)
• Vietnamese: trăm nghe không bằng mắt thấy, tai nghe không bằng mắt thấy, trăm nghe không bằng một thấy

show of skepticism about a claim

• Dutch: eerst zien, dan geloven, zien is geloven
• Hungarian: hiszem, ha látom, majd meglátjuk, várjuk ki a végét