List of Chinese Proverbs Sayings
I recently discovered an inspiring list of Chinese proverbs and sayings that I believe are worth sharing. Chinese culture has a rich tradition of wisdom and insight, and these proverbs reflect that deep heritage. Here are a few of my favorites:
1. "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
2. "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."
3. "A book holds a house of gold."
These proverbs emphasize the importance of taking that first step, not delaying important actions, and valuing knowledge and learning. I find them thought-provoking and relevant to many aspects of life.
In addition to these, there are countless other Chinese proverbs and sayings that offer valuable advice and wisdom. It's fascinating to delve into the cultural and historical context behind each one. I hope these proverbs resonate with you as much as they do with me!
These proverbs remind us of the timeless wisdom present in Chinese culture, and I believe we can all learn something from them. Feel free to share your favorite Chinese proverbs and their meanings in the comments below!
Every man assumes the colors of his surroundings. |
Distant water won't help to put out a fire close at hand. |
It's better for people to wait for rice, than rice for people. |
Better to drink the weak tea of a friend than the sweet wine of an enemy. |
One foot cannot stand on two boats. |
The careful foot can walk anywhere. |
Do not employ handsome servants. |
Easy to believe in heaven's law, but so hard to keep. |
Hatred corrodes the vessel in which it is stored. |
Flowers leave a part of their fragrance in the hands that bestow them. |
Man concocts a million schemes; god knows but one. |
Often one finds one's destiny just where one hides to avoid it. |
Crows everywhere are equally black. |
Gold is tested by fire, man by gold. |
Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere. |
If his legs fail him, he fights on his knees. |
Blame yourself if you have no branches or leaves; don't accuse the sun of partiality. |
Even a big elephant can be caught in one female hair. |
You must have crossed the river before you may tell the crocodile he has bad breath. |
He who hides his faults plans to make more. |
One guest does not trouble two hosts. |
The best soldiers are not warlike. |
Dream of a funeral and you hear of a marriage. |
Killing a bad monarch is not to be considered murder but justice. |
Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him, and then choose that way with all his strength. |
The conquerors are kings; the defeated are bandits. |
Happy people never count hours as they pass. |
One justice can overpower a hundred evils. |
A closed mind is like a closed book; just a block of wood. |
One man tells a lie, dozens repeat it as the truth. |
Love itself is calm; turbulence arrives from individuals. |
Love for a person must extend to the crows on his roof. |
Love and attention make all things grow. |
Love is an eye that doesn't see anything. |
Love is blind, friendship closes its eyes. |
Love has its tides; before ebb tide you must take advantage of the flood. |
Love is incompatible with fear. |
Love my house, love the crow on it. |
Love is blind, and greed insatiable. |
Love your neighbors, but do not pull down the fence. |
For people who love even water is sweet. |
The main road is an easy way, but everyone loves the side streets. |
They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who find pleasure in it. |
All cats love fish but fear to wet their paws. |
He who loves peace minds his own business. |
The woman who deceives her husband makes her lover swear never to be unfaithful to her. |
Spouses that love each other say a thousand things without speaking. |
An old man in love is like a flower in winter. |
To understand your parents' love you must raise children yourself. |
Lord Ye's professed love of dragons turned into his worst fear. |
Married couples who love each other tell each other a thousand things without talking. |
A flower cannot blossom without sunshine nor a garden without love. |
Whoever tastes from the head of a poppy will not expect any thing from love. |
Better a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. |
Love me, love my dog. |
Lift a stone only to drop on your own feet. |
Fight only when you can win; move away when you cannot. |
A diamond with a flaw is preferable to a common stone with none. |
A smile will gain you ten more years of life. |
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life. |
Four things come not back: the spoken word, the spent arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity. |
When planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant trees. When planning for life, train and educate people. |
If you want your children to have a peaceful life, let them suffer a little hunger and a little coldness. |
All of life is a dream walking, all of death is a going home. |
Life isn't all beer and skittles. |
Life can never give security, it can only promise opportunity. |
Life is a dream walking, death is going home. |
Life is like a candle in the wind; like frost on the roof; like the wriggling of the fish in the pan. |
Life unfolds on a sheet called time and once finished is gone forever. |
A child's life is like a piece of paper on which every passerby leaves a mark. |
One moment of patience may ward off a great disaster; one moment of impatience may ruin a whole life. |
If life is fulfilled we go away with empty hands. |
The happiest life ends before death. |
Who teaches me for a day is my father for a lifetime. |
He who does not regularly put on clean socks will never get used to circus life. |
To tell only half the truth is to give life to a new lie. |
People fool themselves. They pray for a long life but fear old age. |
Once bitten by a snake, he is scared all his life at the mere sight of a rope. |
Respect for one's parents is the highest duty of civil life. |
To have saved one human life is worth more than to build a pagoda with seven stories. |
Man fools himself. He prays for a long life, and he fears an old age. |
It is better to save your innocence at the cost of your honor, than to save your country at the cost of your life. |
One moment's error becomes a lifetime of sadness. |
Our enemies teach us life's most valuable lesson. |
An old bachelor compares life with a shirt button that hangs often by a thread. |
A life with love is happy; a life for love is foolish. |
If you would be happy for a week, take a wife; if you would be happy for a month, kill a pig; but if you would be happy all your life, plant a garden. |
A moment of patience can prevent a great disaster and a moment of impatience can ruin a whole life. |
To extend your life by a year, take one less bite each meal. |
One's shadow grows larger than life when admired by the light of the moon. |
The life of an old man can be compared with the flame of a candle in a drought. |
The court official in one life has seven rebirths as a beggar. |
A wise man is able to adapt to the surprises of life as water to the decanter it is poured in. |
To believe in one's dreams is to spend all of one's life asleep. |
He who thinks too much about every step he takes will stay on one leg all his life. |
Respect for ones parents is the highest duty of civil life. |
Once bitten by a snake, one is scared all his life at the mere sight of a rope. |
The error of one moment becomes the sorrow of a whole life. |
Don't ask in this life for the three most difficult things: good sons, long life and a long beard. |
The most important thing in life is to be buried well. |
He who deliberates fully before taking a step will spend his entire life on one leg. |
Sometimes life can be as bitter as dragon tears. But whether dragon tears are bitter or sweat depends entirely on how each man perceives them. |
The palace leads to fame, the market to fortune, and loneliness to wisdom. |
Great doubts deep wisdom. Small doubts little wisdom. |
Beauty is the wisdom of women. Wisdom is the beauty of men. |
The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their rightful names. |
Intelligence is endowed, but wisdom is learned. |
Wisdom is attained by learning when to hold one's tongue. |
No wisdom to silence. |
No wisdom like silence. |
Deep doubts, deep wisdom; small doubts, little wisdom. |
One family builds the wall, two families enjoy it. |
Man is the head of the family, woman the neck that turns the head. |
In every family's cooking pot is one black spot. |
A dog shows affection even to a poor family. |
Public before private and country before family. |
Nobody's family can hang out the sign, Nothing the matter here. |
It is easy to govern a kingdom but difficult to rule one's family. |
You can't be the head of a family unless you show yourself both stupid and deaf. |
Nobody's family can hang up the sign, 'nothing the matter here.' |
Friend, do not try to borrow combs from shaven monks. |
Books speak to the mind, friends to the heart, heaven to the soul, all else to the ears. |
| A courageous foe is better than a cowardly friend. |
Farewell and be hanged; friends must part. |
Yellow gold is plentiful compared to white-haired friends. |
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. |
The wise man learns more from his enemies than a fool does from his friends. |
Make friends with what is good in a man and not his goods. |
Friendship between gentlemen appears indifferent but is pure like water. |
A friend made is a road paved; an enemy created is a wall built. |
One can care little for man, but we need a friend. |
It is easier to visit friends than to live with them. |
Those who despise money will eventually sponge on their friends. |
There is no better sale than when you give a true friend what he needs. |
I have money, you have money; so we are friends. |
It is easy to dodge the arrow of an enemy, but difficult to avoid the spear of a friend. |
A man should choose a friend who is better than himself. There are plenty of acquaintances in the world; but very few real friends. |
Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends whom we choose. |
A thousand cups of wine do not suffice when true friends meet, but half a sentence is too much when there is no meeting of minds. |
When men are friendly the water is sweet. |
If you want to know someone's character, look at the friends he keeps. |
Dogs have so many friends because they wag their tails, not their tongues. |
It takes a year to make a friend, but you can lose one in an hour. |
An old friend met in a far country is like rain after drought. |
You can hardly make a friend in a year, but you can easily offend one in an hour. |
Ceremony is the smoke of friendship. |
Have but few friends though much acquaintance. |
Long roads test the horse, long dealings the friend. |
Do not remove a fly from your friend's forehead with a hatchet. |
If you have money and wine, your friends will be many. |
Your friend has a friend; don't tell him. |
Happiness is like a sunbeam, which the least shadow intercepts, while adversity is often as the rain in the spring. |
You can never be happy at the expense of the happiness of others. |
To be able to curse once a day improves happiness and lengthens life. |
One who knows the limit knows true happiness. |
Happiness is something to do, something to love, something to hope for. |
The happiness in your pocket, don't spend it all. |
With happiness comes intelligence to the heart. |
One happiness scatters a thousand sorrows. |
Do everything at its right time, and one day will seem like three. |
Fall seven times, stand up eight. |
One step at a time is good walking. |
Lazy people always want to do everything at the same time. |
Good will be rewarded with good and evil with evil; it is only a matter of time. |
When you have read a book for the first time, you get to know a friend; read it for a second time and you meet an old friend. |
We can move the entire mountain one piece at a time. |
A dream that lasts merely a millet soup's cooking time. |
Procrastination is the thief of time. |
One's true nature is revealed in time of difficulty. |
He who does not know what to do in his spare time is not a businessman. |
An inch of time cannot be bought with an inch of gold. |
With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown. |
Man who waits for roast duck to fly into mouth must wait very, very long time. |
If you get up one more time than you fall you will make it through. |
Patience is power; with time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown. |
Too often do we waste time chasing a gust of wind or grasping at shadows. |
Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times. |
As long as time is not pressing one does not burn incense; when it becomes urgent one kisses the feet of Buddha. |
Before you plan to improve the world, look around your own house three times. |
People live like birds in the woods: When the time comes, each must take flight. |
Three times an early rise makes a whole day. |
To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping. |
If you must play, decide on three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time. |
Time and tide wait for no man. |
An inch of time is an inch of gold, but an inch of time cannot be purchased for an inch of gold. |
Guard against disgrace in times of favor; be prepared for danger in times of safety. |
Time is like a river - it flows by and doesn't return. |
If you must play, decide upon three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time. |
Going into a country the first time, ask what is forbidden; on entering a village, ask what are the customs; on entering a private house, ask what should not be mentioned. |
Distance tests a horse's strength; time reveals a marls character. |
Study without reflection is a waste of time; reflection without study is dangerous. |
Before preparing to improve the world, first look around your own home three times. |
We forget even incense in easy times; come hard times, we embrace the Buddha's feet. |
There is a time to fish and a time to dry the nets. |
Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time. |
Nature, time and patience are the three great physicians. |
Transgressions should never be forgiven a third time. |
Force tells weak from strong for a moment; truth tells right from wrong all the time. |
Before you prepare to improve the world, look around your own house three times. |
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today. |
Whoever keeps his door locked all the time longs for it to be broken down. |
Do everything at the right time and one day will seem like three. |
You can accompany a friend for a thousand miles but at some time you must take your leave. |
You can't buy an inch of time with an inch of gold. |
The first time you cheat me, be ashamed. The second time it is I who must be ashamed. |
Fearing laws makes one happy every day; withholding truth from heaven worries one all the time. |
Hold back some goods for a thousand days and you will be sure to sell at a profit. |
In his decision the judge with seven reasons gives only one in court. |
Matrimony is the grave of romance. |
Be on a horse when you go in search of a better one. |
Better do a good deed near at home than go far away to burn incense. |
Better go to heaven in rags than to hell in embroidery. |
| Gold has its price; learning is beyond price. |
One false step brings everlasting grief. Short please, long lament. |
A chicken is hatched even from such a well-sealed thing as an egg. |
Better to satisfy the body than to tarnish the soul. |
Unless we change direction, we are likely to wind up where we are headed. |
Have a mouth as sharp as a dagger, but a heart as soft as tofu. |
The country where flowers are expensive lacks the foundation of culture. |
Anger is always more harmful than the insult that caused it. |
Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it. |
It's not that the well is too deep, but rather the rope is too short. |
The delicacy of the feast is the learned guest. |
Unplowed fields make hollow bellies; unread books make hollow minds. |
He who has a lot of money and no children is not rich; he who has many children and no money is not a pauper. |
A tiger never returns to his prey he did not finish off. |
Vicious as a tigress can be, she never eats her own cubs. |
A bird does not sing because he has the answer to something, he sings because he has a song. |
It's your own lantern; don't poke holes in the paper. |
Do not have each foot on a different boat. |
All roads lead to Beijing. |
The dog that has bitten bites again. |
One monk shoulders water by himself; two can still share the labor between them. When it comes to three, they have to go thirsty. |
One never needs their humor as much as when they argue with a fool. |
If one man guards a narrow pass, ten thousand cannot get through. |
Experience is a comb which nature gives to men when they are bald. |
Beware of one with a honeyed tongue and a sword in the belly. |
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. |
The dragon has nine sons, each different from the others. |
Have one's ears pierced only before the wedding ceremony starts. |
One step in the wrong direction will cause you a thousand years of regret. |
Jam tomorrow and jam yesterday, but never jam today. |
Virtue becomes a wife; beauty becomes a concubine. |
Big ships often sail on big debts. |
Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up. |
Learn to paint a tiger and you only paint his skin; learn to know a human being and you only know his face. |
The emperor is the father of his people, not a master to be served by slaves. |
A bad word whispered will echo a hundred miles. |
Virtuous for ten years is still not enough; evil for one day is too much already. |
One who is fit to sit facing the south. |
If the dog leads the man, the man is blind. If the man leads the dog, the man is married. |
Do not judge a person until the lid of his coffin is closed. |
Just because men do not like the cold, Heaven will not stop the winter. |
The evening crowns the days. |
Waiting for a rabbit to hit upon a tree and be killed in order to catch it. |
A man who cannot tolerate small misfortunes can never accomplish great things. |
One who would pick the roses must bear with the thorns. |
| A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives flowers. |
He has too many lice to feel an itch. |
The faintest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory. |
A bad worker quarrels with his tools. |
One's skills are his inexhaustible treasure keeping him from hunger wherever he goes. |
Keep your broken arm inside your sleeve. |
Want a thing long enough, and you don't. |
A clever person turns great troubles into little ones, and little ones into none at all. |
If the pedestal is beautiful the statue must be even more beautiful. |
The father in praising the son extols himself. |
Ones who are unable to live under the same sky. |
A beautiful flower is incomplete without its leaves. |
He that has no money might as well be buried in a rice tub with his mouth sewn up. |
A bird can roost but on one branch, a mouse can drink not more than its fill from a river. |
Kill one to warn a hundred. |
Only one who can swallow an insult is a man. |
The first decision of a woman is the most intelligent and the last decision most dangerous. |
Do not talk Arabic in the house of a Moor. |
If there is a strong general, there will be no weak soldiers. |
Water can do without fishes, fishes cannot do without water. |
A gem is not polished without rubbing, nor a man made perfect without trials. |
The first hen that cackles is the one that laid the egg. |
A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives you roses. |
Killing a man to save the world, does not save the world. |
He that is afraid to shake the dice will never throw a six. |
The flatterer makes you climb up a tree then takes the ladder away. |
Only through the eyes of others can we really see our own faults. |
All things seem difficult at first. |
Knowledge that is not replenished diminishes every day. |
Careless rat chewing on a cat's tail: beware lightning!. |
We can study until old age and still not finish. |
The fool does what he can't avoid, the wise man avoids what he can't do. |
If there is beauty in character, there will be harmony in the home. If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world. |
Opinions are like nails: the more often you hit them the deeper they penetrate. |
As a snipe and a clam are entangled in a fight, a fisherman catch them both. |
Faults and virtues are but two sides of the same coin. |
Like ants gnawing at a bone. |
The gem of the sky is the sun; the gem of the house is the child. |
He who always eats the roots of a plant is capable of any thing. |
Laws are useless when men are pure, unenforceable when men are corrupt. |
A watched flower never blooms, while a carelessly planted willow grows into shade. |
Well water is not an enemy of spring water. |
The great question is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with failure. |
Do not use a hatchet to remove a fly from your friend's forehead. |
Out of a dog's mouth will never come ivory tusks. |
A book holds a house of gold. |
The greater your troubles, the greater is your opportunity to show yourself a worthy person. |
If what we see is doubtful, how can we believe what is spoken behind the back. |
Fight a wolf with a flex stalk. |
Parents who are afraid to put their foot down usually have children who step on their toes. |
What is told into the ear of a man is often heard a hundred miles away. |
A man's fortune must first be changed from within. |
He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever. |
Learning is a treasure which accompanies its owner everywhere. |
A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. |
Cheap things are not good, good things are not cheap. |
If you always give, you will always have. |
Whatever will satisfy hunger is good food. |
Patience and the mulberry leaf become a silk robe. |
A rumor goes in one ear and out many mouths. |
The hardest step is over the threshold. |
Learning how the Handan residents walk. |
Dogs do not dislike poor families. |
When a king makes a mistake, all the people suffer. |
Learning is better than house and land. |
A diamond with a flaw is worth more than a pebble without imperfections. |
Patience is a plaister for all sores. |
The heart of a little child is like the heart of buddha. |
Fight poison with poison. |
Away from home they look at your clothes. At home they look at what is under them. |
When buying a house, check the beams; when choosing a wife; check the mother. |
He who cannot agree with his enemies is controlled by them. |
A kind word warms for three winters. |
The itch that gives someone skill is difficult to scratch. |
People can be done without but a lot of us need a friend. |
The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. |
When good fortune finally comes, no one can ever stop it. |
Learning is treasure no thief can touch. |
A book tightly shut is but a block of paper. |
Don't be a tiger's head with a snake's tail. |
When money is stolen you can only beat the dog. |
Lend money to someone who won't pay you back and he'll hate you. |
People die voluntarily when it becomes impossible to live. |
The little pot is soonest hot. |
A whitewashed crow soon shows black again. |
Fire makes mud hard and gold melt. |
When the cat is gone, the mice come out to stretch. |
Climb mountains to see lowlands. |
If you are hunting for a red deer then ignore the hares. |
Pick up a sesame seed only to lose a watermelon. |
The longer the night lasts, the more our dreams will be. |
A bridle for the tongue is a necessary piece of furniture. |
When the mantis hunts the locust, he forgets the shrike that's hunting him. |
Fish cannot survive in absolutely clear water. |
Although there exist many thousands of subjects for elegant conversation, there are persons who cannot meet a cripple without talking about feet. |
He who carves the Buddha never worships him. |
When there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world. |
The main thing is that we can smile at our duties -- yes even at our suffering. |
Plant the crab-tree where you will it will never bear pippins. |
Be frugal in prosperity, fear not in adversity. |
He who covers up his mistakes intends to make some more. |
The man who does not learn is dark, like one walking in the night. |
A girl receives, a widow takes her husband. |
Concealing truth is like wearing embroidered clothes and traveling by night. |
If you are married to a chicken obey the chicken. If you are married to a dog obey the dog. |
When you are poor, you will have no visitors even if you live in a crowded city; once you become rich, you'll be surprised by visitors from alleged relatives even if you live in a remote location. |
The wound caused by a sword can eventually be healed; the hurt resulted from vicious remarks can never be undone. |
Pluck flowers as they bloom; wait and you'll have only the twigs. |
A child's words have no guile. |
The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out. |
Fish in muddled water. |
Light is good from whatever lamp it shines. |
A clever doctor never treats himself. |
Politics makes strange bedfellows. |
When your neighbor walks through your orchard, the polite thing to do is to ignore it. |
He who does not feed his cat will feed rats. |
Don't count your chickens before they are hatched. |
Fate leads those who are willing but must push those who are not. |
The man will surely fail, who dares delay, And lose to-morrow that has lost to-day. |
Like neither a donkey nor a horse. |
Whether we walk quickly or slowly, the road remains the same. |
A mans greatest shortcoming is that he neglects his own field and weeds that of others. |
If you are patient in a moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow. |
Poverty and ugliness are difficult to hide. |
Flowers look different in different eyes. |
The mighty tree must catch the wind. |
Listening well is as powerful as talking well, and is also as essential to true conversation. |
Who has children cannot long remain poor; who has none cannot long remain rich. |
A little impatience spoils great plans. |
Consider the past and you shall know the future. |
Present Buddha with borrowed flowers. |
The more acquaintances you have, the less you know them. |
A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study. |
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. |
If you are poor, though you dwell in the busy marketplace, no one will inquire about you; if you are rich, though you dwell in the heart of the mountains, you will have distant relatives. |
Long or short, a stick is always a stick; tall or short, people are always people. |
A cloth is not woven from a single thread. |
Win your lawsuit and lose your money. |
The most highly praised woman is the one about whom no one speaks. |
Be not disturbed at being misunderstood; be disturbed rather at not being understanding. |
The one who first resorts to violence shows that he has no more arguments. |
If you bow at all, bow low. |
With money one may command devils; without it, one cannot even summon a man. |
Put one person's hat on another's head. |
Don't expect from others what you can't promise them yourself. |
Look at a leopard through a pipe. |
A wise man adapts himself to circumstances, as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it. |
The one who understands does not speak, the one who speaks does not understand. |
For the sake of one good action, a hundred evil ones should be forgotten. |
Quiet rivers have flowery banks. |
Among ten matchmakers only nine will lie. |
The past remembered is a good guide for the future. |
If you do not want anyone to know, do not do it. |
Women and fools never forgive. |
Look to your enemy for a chance to succeed. |
Corporations have neither bodies to be punished nor souls to be damned. |
He who governs by his moral excellence may be compared to the Pole star which abides in its place while all other stars bow towards it. |
Raise your sail one foot and you get ten feet of wind. |
The pen of the tongue should be dipped in the ink of the heart. |
Looking for the ass on its very back. |
Words are sounds of the heart. |
A crisis is an opportunity riding the dangerous wind. |
If you don't want anyone to know, don't do it. |
Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses. |
Rats know the way of rats. |
A day of sorrow is longer than a month of joy. |
One beam, no matter how big, cannot support an entire house on its own. |
You buy land, you buy stones; you buy meat, you buy bones. |
One measures the towers by their shadows and great people by those who envy them. |
The people who talk the best are not the only ones who can tell you the most interesting things. |
Don't look back when you are walking along the edge of a wall. |
A Quarter of an hour is worth more than a thousand gold coins. |
No one is more afraid of ghosts than those that don't believe in them. |
Real gold is not afraid of the melting pot. |
You can be cautious of the future, but not of the past. |
He who has a straight body is not worried about his crooked shadow. |
The pitcher doth not go so often to the well, but it comes home broken at last. |
Be skeptical; long garments can also hide big feet. |
If you have never done anything wrong, you should not be worrying about devils to knock at your door. |
You can mirror something from other people; you can only give out that which is your own. |
A diamond with a flaw is better than a common stone that is perfect. |
Fortune and flowers do not last forever. |
The poor ones give their alms in a humble way, the rich man throws them down with contempt. |
Rein in the horse at the edge of the cliff. |
A maker of idols is never an idolater. |
You can't expect both ends of a sugar cane to be as sweet. |
Covet wealth, and want it; don't, and luck will grant it. |
The real scholar is not afraid to ask questions of his pupil. |
He who hasn't a penny sees bargains everywhere. |
Repentance is the spring beneath our virtues. |
A mountain of knives and a sea of fire. |
You cannot fight a fire with water from far away. |
The rich man plans for tomorrow, the poor man for today. |
Don't promise something when you are full of joy; don't answer letters when you are full of anger. |
If you have two loaves of bread, sell one and buy a lily. |
You looked high and low till your iron shoes were worn out but still to no avail. Then you chanced upon it without ever looking. |
The saving man becomes the free man. |
A good breakfast cannot take the place of the evening meal. |
Big chickens don't peck at small seeds. |
If you never go up a hill, you will never know what a plain is like. |
An answer that does not resolve a quarrel makes a thousand new ones. |
Curse your wife at evening, sleep alone at night. |
You never are so easily mistaken as when you think you know the way. |
The scent of a rose will always stay on the hand of the giver. |
Making a thousand decisions, even the wise will make a mistake. |
Respect spiritual beings but keep your distance. |
Man is heaven and earth in miniature. |
A woman gets thirty percent of her beauty from nature and seventy percent from makeup. |
Don't suspect your employee. If one is suspicious, don't employ him. |
He who is hungry is never a good civil servant. |
The sheep has no choice when in the jaws of the wolf. |
You will never lose a battle if you know your own situation as well as that of the enemy. |
A dog in desperation will leap over a wall. |
If you see in your wine the reflection of a person not in your range of vision, don't drink it. |
Rich not gaudy. |
The sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them. |
Beat the grass to frighten the snakes. |
A person whose heart is not content is like a snake which tries to swallow an elephant. |
Your best mirror is someone more beautiful than you. |
Fruits of the same tree have different tastes; children of the same mother have various qualities. |
Ripe fruit falls by itself, but it does not fall into your mouth. |
The thoughtless person buries a well when he is thirsty. |
He who is not friendly towards a good guest will never have one. |
Believe your servants but do not listen to them. |
A single tree makes no forest; one string makes no music. |
If you suspect a man, don't employ him, and if you employ him, don't suspect him. |
Don't waste good iron for nails or good men for soldiers. |
The tongue of a woman is the sword that is never allowed to rust. |
Riddance of evil must be thorough. |
A dog won't forsake his master because of poverty; a son never deserts his mother because of her homely appearance. |
He who knows he is a fool is not a big fool. |
Mankind scorns a virtuous man, but heaven does not. |
Dangerous enemies will meet again in narrow streets. |
The trees want to remain quiet, but the wind will not stop. |
If you want a crop for one year, grow grain; if you want a crop for ten years, grow a tree; if you want a crop for a hundred years, grow men. |
A dragon will be teased by a shrimp in a shoal water; a tiger will be bullied by a dog on a treeless plain. |
Garlands are not for every brow. |
Rotten wood cannot be carved. |
The water that a ship sails on is the same water that swallows it up. |
Many a little make a mickle. |
If you want to avoid being cheated, ask for prices at three different stores. |
A young branch takes on all the bends that one gives it. |
The water that bears the ship is the same that engulfs it. |
Married couples tell each other a thousand things without speech. |
He who plays with fire may become its victim. |
The winds of heaven change suddenly; so do human fortunes. |
Ruthlessness is key to a man's accomplishment. |
Measure your throat before you swallow a bone. |
An army of a thousand is easy to find, but, ah, how difficult to find a general. |
The wise man and the tortoise travel but never leave their home. |
Get the coffin ready and watch the man mend. |
If you want to go up in the world, veil ambition with the forms of humanity. |
Scholars talk books, butchers talk pigs. |
A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatches. |
Men grow old, pearls grow yellow, there is no cure for it. |
Dream different dreams on the same bed. |
The wise man forgets insults as the ungrateful forget benefits. |
He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes. |
A drop of sweat spent in a drill is a drop of blood saved in a battle. |
Deal with the faults of others as gently as with your own. |
Men see only the present; heaven sees the future. |
The wolf barks in vain at the moon. |
If you wish to know the mind of a man, listen to his words. |
A red-nosed man may be a teetotaler, but will find no one to believe it. |
Give a beggar a bed and he'll repay you with a louse. |
If your strength is small, don't carry heavy burdens. If your words are worthless, don't give advice. |
The woman who tells her age is either too young to have anything to lose or too old to have anything to gain. |
Sending charcoal in the snow is better than adding flowers to a brocade. |
A fall into a ditch makes you wiser. |
He who stays near vermilion gets stained red; he who stays near ink gets stained black. |
There are always ears on the other side of the wall. |
Mischief has swift wings. |
In a broken nest there are few whole eggs. |
Shoot at someone's shadow with sand. |
There are no mistakes, only lessons. |
A man is happy when he has books, but happier still when he does not need them. |
Deer-hunter, waste not your arrow on the hare. |
Misfortune is not that which can be avoided, but that which cannot. |
There are people that fish and those who just disturb the water. |
| A good drum does not have to be beaten hard. |
Slander cannot destroy an honest man: when the flood recedes the rock is there. |
There are thirty-six ways to flee, but to run away is the best. |
Drinking with a bosom friend, a thousand shots are too few; Talking with a disagreeable person, half a sentence is too many. |
Money can buy a lot that is not even for sale. |
Active people never have louse bites. |
Going beyond is as bad as falling short. |
There are two perfect men; one dead, and the other unborn. |
He who takes revenge for a small insult, will have a bigger one thrown at him. |
Small ills are the fountains of most of our groans. Men trip not on mountains, they stumble on stones. |
A false report rides post. |
Faith and dishonesty are other words for uselessness. |
Nature is better than a middling doctor. |
In shallow holes moles make fools of dragons. |
There belongs more than whistling to going to plough. |
Each sovereign maintains his own courtiers. |
Smash the pots and sink the boats. |
Never answer a letter while you are angry. |
There is gossip every day, but if no one listens anymore the gossip will die. |
Give a dog a tasty name and eat him. |
Defer not till to-morrow what may be done to-day. |
A fire cannot be wrapped with paper. |
In the broken nest there are no whole eggs. |
So long as the green mountains are preserved, there will be no shortage of firewood supply. |
There is no economy in going to bed early to save candles if the result is twins. |
Easy to keep the castle that was never besieged. |
Never do anything standing that you can do sitting, or anything sitting that you can do lying down. |
A clear conscience is the greatest armor. |
Gold and silver are mingled with dirt, till avarice parted them. |
A one hundred yard high tower still has its foundation on the ground. |
There is no room for two dragons in one pond. |
In the midst of great joy do not promise to give a man anything; in the midst of great anger do not answer a man's letter. |
Solve one problem, and you keep a hundred others away. |
Deviate an inch, lose a thousand miles. |
Never eat in a restaurant where the chef is thin. |
There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it. * |
Drinks down your sorrow, but your sorrow returns the morning after. |
He who wants to be a dragon must eat many little snakes. |
Injure others, injure yourself. |
No banquet in the world that never ends. |
Some roads aren't meant to be travelled alone. |
Good manners can be paid for with compliments, but only the sound of money will pay your debts. |
A flying moth throws itself into a fire. |
Being in the right does not depend on having a loud voice. |
No matter how big the sea may be, sometimes two ships meet. |
Heaven lent you a soul Earth will lend a grave. |
One cannot manage too many affairs; like pumpkins in water, one pops up while you try to hold down the other. |
Think before you speak but do not speak all that you think. |
Sorrow is the child of too much joy. |
Add legs to the snake one has just painted. |
Those who have free seats at the play are the first to hiss. |
Economize now or suffer want later. |
It is a sad situation for a son-in-law when his mother-in-law praises him. |
No matter how stout one beam, it cannot support a house. |
An image of a bamboo has already been formed in mind before it is committed to the painting canvas. |
Spring is sooner recognized by plants than by men. |
Those who remove mountains begin by carrying away small stones. |
Dig the well before you are thirsty. |
Hit a stone with an egg. |
Great blessings come from heaven; small blessings come from man. |
No matter how the wind howls, the mountain will not bow to it. |
Though you live near a forest, do not waste firewood. |
A man need never revenge himself; the body of his enemy will be brought to his own door. |
Stir the grass and alert the snake. |
No one has an exclusive on opportunity. When the sun rises, it rises for everyone. |
Enough food and a pipe full of tobacco makes you equal to the immortals. |
A fool admires himself most when he has done foolish things. |
Honing your hatchet will not delay your effort of wood cutting. |
Those who play the game do not see as clearly as those who watch. |
Not only those who can talk the best tell you the most interesting things. |
Better a live beggar than a dead king. |
Success in the end erases all the mistakes along the way. |
It is easier to get a chicken back in the egg than to undo a slander. |
A fool judges people by the presents they give him. |
Great cry and little wool, as the fellow said when he sheared his hogs. |
Not until just before dawn do people sleep best; not until people get old do they become wise. |
Swiftest horse cannot overtake the word once spoken. |
A hasty man drinks his tea with a fork. |
Even a hare will bite when it is cornered. |
Talking doesn't get your rice cooked. |
Occupy the higher ground to exercise control. |
| A fox borrows the tiger's might. |
Discover a well before you are thirsty. |
Of a good beginning cometh a good end. |
Aged ginger is more pungent. |
Teach your son in the front garden and your wife on the pillow. |
Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes. |
To be totally at leisure for one day is to be immortal for one day. |
Even an accomplished physician cannot cure himself. |
He that has not bread to spare should not keep a dog. |
How can you put out a fire set on a cart-load of firewood with only a cup of water. |
It is easy to get a thousand soldiers, but difficult to get one general. |
Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself. |
Of all the female qualities a warm heart is the most valuable. |
If a girl seems as shy as a mouse, you still have to look out for the tiger within her. |
Better do it than wish it done. |
It is foolish for someone to seek credit for his ancestor's achievements. |
To die is to stop living but to stop living is something entirely different than dying. |
A teacher is someone who ploughs with his tongue to fill his little bowl with rice. |
Even the highest towers begin from the ground. |
Often one finds destiny just where one hides to avoid it. |
A frog in a well-shaft seeing the sky. |
To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root. |
It is impossible to add much weight with a single morsel; it is hard to travel afar with a single step. |
Once a tree falls, the monkeys on it will scatter. |
A full bottle makes no sound; a half-bottle sloshes around. |
If a man fools me once, shame on him. If he fools me twice, shame on me. |
To know and know that you know, not to know and know that you don't know, that is to know. |
Even when a girl is as shy as a mouse, you still have to beware of the tiger within. |
It is not necessary to light a candle to the sun. |
Once you pour the water out of the bucket it's hard to get it back in it. |
A person cannot be judged by his appearance in the same token as the sea cannot be measured with a bucket. |
Temptation wrings integrity even as the thumbscrew twists a man's fingers. |
One bee makes no honey; one grain makes no rice soup. |
If a son is uneducated, his father is to blame. |
Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself. |
To learn about other people is science, to learn to know yourself is intelligence. |
Insanity is doing the same thing in the same way and expecting a different outcome. |
The advice of a clever woman can ruin a strong town. |
It is only good when the old and the young respect each other. |
Every day cannot be a feast of lanterns. |
One can forgive a murder but not impoliteness. |
Within the four seas all man are brethren. |
Take a second look; it costs you nothing. |
Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back. |
To meet an old friend in a distant country is like the delight of rain after a long drought. |
If at home you receive no visitors, then abroad you will have no host. |
The best doctor prevents illness, an average doctor visits when the illness is imminent, and the unskilled doctor treats your present illness. |
Better the devil you know than the devil you don't. |
It is too late for a galloping horse to stop at a clip; it is useless for a sinking boat to be mended in the middle of a river. |
To persecute the unfortunate is like throwing stones on one fallen into a well. |
One day as a tiger is worth a thousand as a sheep. |
The best memory is not so firm as faded ink. |
It takes more than one cold day for a river to freeze three feet deep. |
A thousand pounds and a bottle of hay are all one at domesday. |
One failure leads to another; so does success. |
If heaven drops a date, open your mouth. |
The black dog gets the food; the white dog gets the blame. |
Happy is the man who knows he's happy. |
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