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There is a big difference between what one hears and sees.
A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.
Even the swinging together of sleeves is preordained by destiny.
Though we see the seven defects of others, we do not see our own ten defects.
Even among intimate friends there should be courtesy.
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Pleasure is the seed of pain, pain is the seed of pleasure.
With no debt there is no danger.
When politeness is overdone it becomes flattery.
Day has its eyes, night has its ears.
Patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet.
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A stinking person does not know his own foul odor.
If you despise yourself people will afterwards despise you.
Even the devil sometimes breaks his horns.
To die is easy, to live is hard.
There is nothing that cannot be achieved by firm determination.
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A person is not always what he appears to be.
Wealthy people have many worries.
A woman's wholehearted desire will pierce even a rock.
Worse than four hundred and four illnesses is the disease of poverty.
A barking dog is weak.
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The drums sound according to the way they are struck.
One dog barks an inanity, ten thousand dogs assert its truth.
An unskillful person inspects his tools.
For a hungry person there is no course food.
At a distance enjoy the fragrance of flowers.
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The quick eater does quick work.
There is no education that can surpass privations.
Cupidity has no peak.
Curses come back to yourself.
The dove shows its filial piety by sitting three branches below its parents.
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Eating is preferable to amorousness.
If you know the disease, recovery is near.
A dipper can't be used for an earpick.
The disciple does not surpass his teacher.
The disagreements of women give birth to the wars of men.
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The filial duty of feeding one's parents is known even to the crow.
When one would be filial one's parents are gone.
Let each person drive away his own wasps.
Duty to parents is higher than the mountains, deeper than the sea.
Daughters are fragile ware.
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The starving dog fears not the stick.
Even a dog will not eat a quarrel between husband and wife.
Dumplings are better than flowers.
Falling drops pierce the stone.
If you don't nip it in the bud, it will grow into something that will require an ax.
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The dog that wags its tail cannot be beaten.
Serious disasters come from small causes.
Even dust when accumulated makes a mountain.
Eggs and vows are easily broken.
Patience will pierce even a rock.
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A living body is a dying body.
On death all accounts are cancelled.
The parents can see best the character of the child.
Dogfights draw children, children's fights draw parents.
Evil follows good, good follows evil.
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Better than a feast elsewhere is a meal at home of tea and rice.
Family quarrels sow the seeds of poverty.
Eggplants do not grow on melon vines.
Failure is the source of success.
The eyes speak as much as the mouth.
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An idiot's eloquence is silence.
Friends and wine, the older the better.
Good articles are not cheap.
A go-between needs a thousand pairs of sandals.
Go often to your friend and you'll be treated coolly.
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A general of a defeated army should not talk of tactics.
Among good things there are no cheap.
In hardship you know your friends.
A frog in the well knows not the ocean.
Things sweet to the mouth do not necessarily nourish the belly.
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Giving is for the purpose of taking.
The fortuneteller does does not know his own future.
The fortuneteller cannot tell his own fortune.
There is no better mirror than an old friend.
Borrowed garments do not fit well.
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There is no blade that can offer resistance to kindness.
Conscience is the sentry of virtue and righteousness.
A tyrannical government is fiercer than a tiger. 4
The first grandchild is more beloved than one's own child.
The young of frogs are frogs.
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The gods see through everything.
Thunder will bring to a peaceful end a quarrel between husband and wife.
Two things cannot be done at one time.
What is good is not necessarily beautiful.
The hasty hand bungles things.
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A hair from the head of a woman can tie a large elephant.
A woman's heart is as changeable as the weather in spring.
A woman's heart is as changeable as the eyes of a cat.
The hasty hand will do things wrong.
The grief of parting and the agony of separation is the way of the world.
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A bad friend is no better than no friend.
Friendship is the marriage of the soul.
From the fingers of a skillful hand water may leak.
A harlot has no faithfulness.
A man's heart is as changeable as the skies in autumn.
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Even beautiful things have disadvantages and must be used with caution.
A tiger dies and leaves his skin a man dies and leaves his name.
Habit becomes one's nature.
He who chases two hares will not catch even one.
Without bending, there is no growth.
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Japanese Proverbs (001-100)Japanese Proverbs (101-200) Japanese Proverbs (201-300)Japanese Proverbs (301-400)Japanese Proverbs (401-500)Japanese Proverbs (501-536)
