Mêng6ze2 孟子 wrote this saying 天時不如地利。
It is read in Teochew as ti1si5 bu4ru5 di7li6
There is a second part to this saying - like many Chinese sayings, there is second part and we call these two-part allegorical sayings as hiah4ao6ghe2 歇後語｜歇后语 - and the second part is 地利不如人和 and we read this in Teochew as di7li6 bu4ru5 nang5hua5
天時不如地利 地利不如人和 ti1si5 bu4ru5 di7li6 di7li6 bu4ru5 nang5hua5
If one were to study this saying one would have to consider the various components:
ti1si5 weather conditions or the order of nature - see link above.
di7li6 means geographical considerations
nang5hua - people in harmony
bug4ru5 means "not equal to"
When Mêng6ze2 wrote this saying, states in China were killing one another and states were constantly at war with one another. And this saying is referring to a country's preparedness for war.
Therefore to be successful all three conditions must be satisfied for a state to win a war.
Who was Mêng6ze2? He is known as Mencius (372BC - 289 BC) in English, a Confucian philosopher.
There is another similar saying ti1si5 di7li6 nang5hua5 天時地利人和 and this saying means it is a good time to go to war.
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