本性难移

It is hard to change one's essential nature (idiom). You can't change who you are. / Can the leopard change his spots? (Jeremiah 13:23)

root / stem / origin / source / this / the current / original / inherent / originally / classifier for books, periodicals, files etc

natural instincts / nature / inherent quality

nature / character / property / quality / attribute / sexuality / sex / gender / suffix forming adjective from verb / suffix forming noun from adjective, corresponding to -ness or -ity / essence / CL:個|个[ge4]

difficult (to...) / problem / difficulty / difficult / not good

disaster / distress / to scold

to move / to shift / to change / to alter / to remove

it is easier to change mountains and rivers than to alter one's character (idiom) / you can't change who you are / Can the leopard change his spots?