Shuǐhuǒ bù liúqíng.*

Lit Floods [and] fire show no mercy.

Fig Everyone is equally liable to fires and floods.

Note [Note: shuǐhuǒ, (lit) “water and fire,” also “flood and conflagration,” is a metaphor for “extreme misery”; liúqíng, “to show mercy or forgiveness.”]

Topics DISASTERS FIRES FLOODING liúqíng MERCY shuǐhuǒ