Background: Iris Zhang is an 18-year-old student living in Los Angeles, CA. She is a student at USC. She was born in Diamond Bar and raised in Arcadia, California.

Original script: “It takes sweat to work hard on something, but it only takes saliva to complain about things”

Background Information about the Piece by the informant: Her father told her this when she was much younger. She thinks she was talking about a group project and how someone wasn’t doing any work in her team. Her dad responded with this proverb and although it frustrated her, she still accepted it and considered it a valuable lesson.

Thoughts about the piece: I appreciate this proverb very much; it’s simply worded but very powerful. Also, it is very true – it creates an interesting contrast and encourages the listener to continue working hard instead of wasting time complaining.