若要人不知，除非己莫為

Chinese

	to seem; like; as to seem; like; as; if	important; vital; to want important; vital; to want; to be going to; must; demand; ask; request; coerce	man; person; people	to not know; to have no idea of; to be ignorant of to not know; to have no idea of; to be ignorant of; to wonder if		unless; only if; only when	6th heavenly stem; self	do not; there is none who	because of; for; to because of; for; to; act as; take...to be; to be; to do; to serve as; to become
trad. (若要人不知，除非己莫為/若要人不知，除非己莫爲)	若	要	人	不知	，	除非	己	莫	為/爲
simp. (若要人不知，除非己莫为)	若	要	人	不知	，	除非	己	莫	为
Literally: “if one wants others to not know [of their wrongdoings], only [happens] when themselves had not done it”.

The earliest appearance of similar expressions was in Mei Cheng (枚乘)'s Petition to the Prince of Wu:

欲人勿聞，莫若勿言；欲人勿知，莫若勿為。 [MSC, trad.]

欲人勿闻，莫若勿言；欲人勿知，莫若勿为。 [MSC, simp.]

From: Mei Sheng (枚乘),《上書諫吳王》

Yù rén wù wén, mò ruò wù yán; yù rén wù zhī, mò ruò wù wèi. [Pinyin]

Do not speak if you do not want others to hear; do not do if you do not want others to know.

Mandarin
(Pinyin): ruò yào rén bùzhī chúfēi jǐ mò wéi

(Zhuyin): ㄖㄨㄛˋ ㄧㄠˋ ㄖㄣˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄓㄔㄨˊ ㄈㄟㄐㄧˇ ㄇㄛˋ ㄨㄟˊ
Cantonese (Jyutping): joek⁶ jiu³ jan⁴ bat¹ zi¹, ceoi⁴ fei¹ gei² mok⁶ wai⁴

若要人不知，除非己莫為