治大國若烹小鮮

1. • ruling a large nation is like cooking a small delicacy (idiom)
2. • effective government requires minimal intervention

Character by character

• 治(zhì)rule
• 大(dà)big
• 國(guó)surname Guo
• 若(ruò)seem
• 烹(pēng)boil
• 小(xiǎo)small
• 鮮(xiān)fresh