짖는 것은 무는 것만 못하다
bark-PART thing-TOPIC bite-PART thing-ONLY can’t-do
That which barks isn’t sufficient to bite.
“One’s bark is worse than one’s bite.” The ~만하다 ending means “is sufficient to” in one of my grammar books, so I decided that ~만 못하다 must mean “isn’t sufficient to” – but what I’m not confident about is how this works when attached to the periphrastic ~는 것 “that which ~”. I just kind of ignored that aspect in the second half of the sentence.
Speaking of bark worse than bite: my boss. Just sayin’.