Chinese Proverbs (001-100)

❖

Inferior in youth, not much use in old age.

Work is afraid of a resolute man.

Your teacher can lead you to the door
the acquiring of learning rests with each person.

Better die ten years earlier than live those years in poverty.

Those who are prospering do not argue about taxes.

❖

When you have had a toothache, you can understand
how another's toothache feels.

There is no ease for the mouth with an aching tooth.

Each trade has its own ways.

He who can handle a writing brush will never have to beg.

To complete a thing, a hundred years is not sufficient
to destroy it, one day is more than enough.

❖

The tongue is soft and remains the teeth are hard and fall out.

Bitter words are medicine sweet words bring illness.

The pretty woman in the house is the enemy of all the ugly ones.

For an intelligent man, one word and he understands.

Without a bright mirror a woman cannot
know if the powder is smooth on her face.

❖

A single kind word keeps one warm for three winters.

The two words, "peace" and "tranquility,"
are worth a thousand pieces of gold.

In books there are women who appear as jewels.

Words are the voice of the heart.

Towers are measured by their shadows,
great men by those who speak evil of them.

❖

The tongue is like a sharp knife: it kills without drawing blood.

The homely woman is precious in the home,
but at a feast the beautiful one is preferred.

If one word does not succeed, ten thousand are of no avail.

When a word has once left the lips, the swiftest horse cannot overtake it.

It is difficult to get a good word it is easy to give a bad one.

❖

Words unspoken are not known.

Hurry men at their work, not at their meals.

The wood for a temple does not come from one tree.

Wine does not intoxicate a man he intoxicates himself. Men are not enticed by vice they entice themselves.

Without wine in the bottle it is hard to have guests.

❖

Wine should be taken in small doses knowledge in large.

When there is much soliciting to buy and to sell, trade is not very lively.

To beat a tiger one must have a brother's help.

Ugly wives and stupid servant girls are treasures above price.

If you don't drink, the price of wine is of no interest.

❖

Good wine reddens the face of man riches excite his heart.

Today's wine I drink today tomorrow's sorrow I bear tomorrow.

There is no wall through which the wind cannot pass.

A wife should not hold converse with her husband's younger brother.

If there is no wind, the trees don't move.

❖

Curse not your wife in the evening, or you will have to sleep alone.

She who is the wife of one man cannot eat the rice of two.

When there is wind in the clouds there are waves on the river.

Money will open a blind man's eyes
will make a priest sell his prayer books.

Fine or not, it is my country's wine.

❖

Each cup of wine and each bite of meat is destined from aforetime.

A wife is sought for her virtue, a concubine for her beauty.

He who sits in a well to look at the sky can see but little.

Deep waters flow slowly.

It is difficult to gather up spilled water.

❖

Though stone were changed to gold,
the heart of man would not be satisfied.

You may hide a thing from men from the spirits you cannot hide it.

If you take one step in the wrong direction,
a hundred steps in the right direction will not atone for it.

Spring is as changeable as a stepmother's face.

If the string is long, the kite flies high.

❖

One speck of rat's dung spoils a whole pot of rice.

Teach your son in the hall, your wife on the pillow.

If you know where to stop and stop there,
you will never be disgraced.

Though your stomach is full, carry provisions.

It is easy to dodge a spear in the daylight,
but it is difficult to avoid an arrow in the dark.

❖

To raise a son without learning is raising an ass
to raise a daughter without learning is raising a pig.

If you neglect study when you are young, what of your old age.

When the ear does not listen, the heart escapes sorrow.

Brainless sons boast of their ancestors.

If you strike a snake without killing it, it will turn and bite you.

❖

Speak softly, and be slow to begin your speech.

Sow much, reap much sow little, reap little.

A teacher will not criticize a teacher, nor will a doctor criticize a doctor.

A runaway son is still precious a runaway daughter loses her value.

One sincere thought can move both Heaven and earth.

❖

The spirits hover but three feet above your head.

A carpenter's son knows how to saw a duckling, how to swim.

Sorrow is born of excessive joy.

One year bitten by a snake, for three years afraid of a grass rope.

Let each sweep the snow from before his own door
let him not be concerned about the frost
on his neighbor's tiles.

❖

He who is bitten once by a snake
will not walk a second time in the grass.

Never spoil a slave or deceive a small child.

The serpent knows his own hole.

A long road tests a horse long drawn-out affairs test a friend.

When the river is full the well is full.

❖

Slanders cluster thick about a widow's door.

The more stupid, the happier.

Sin is the root of the sorrow.

If you wish to know the road ahead,
inquire of those who have traveled it.

Ten thousand rivers flow into the sea, but the sea is never full.

❖

Slander cannot make a good man bad.

If you are standing upright, don't worry if your shadow is crooked.

When the roof is leaky, it rains that night.

You cannot get two skins from one cow.

When you go out to buy, don't show your silver.

❖

When the sky is clear, carry an umbrella.

Salt is good to eat anywhere in the world money
is good to use anywhere in the world.

Those near the temple make fun of the gods.

You can't cut off the sunlight with one hand.

Robbers are plundered by thieves.

❖

Don't add salt to a boatload of salt fish.

Every sect has its truth and every truth its sect.

Scholars are a country's treasure,
the learned are the delicacies of the feast.

Those who have free seats at the play hiss first.

A sheep was never known to climb a tree.

❖❖❖

Chinese Proverbs (001-100)
Chinese Proverbs (101-200)
Chinese Proverbs (201-300)
Chinese Proverbs (301-400)
Chinese Proverbs (401-500)
Chinese Proverbs (501-600)
Chinese Proverbs (601-636)

Chinese Proverbs (101-200)

❖

When you talk on the road, remember there may be men in the grass.

To know the truth is easy but, ah, how difficult to follow it.

If you are not a sailor, don't handle a boat hook.

The schoolmaster should not leave his books,
nor should the poor man leave his pig.

When a thing is done, don't talk about it.

❖

The thread cannot pass without a needle
the boat cannot cross without water.

Outside he is clothed in a sheep's skin inside his heart is a wolf's.

The myriad schemes of men do not equal one scheme of God's.

To open a shop is easy the difficult thing is keeping it open.

The seats in the great hall all come in rotation:
the daughter-in-law will some day be the mother-in-law.

❖

He who has seen little marvels much.

Rivers and mountains may easily change,
but human nature is changed with difficulty.

Better die than turn your back on reason.

On the day your horse dies and your gold vanishes,
your relatives are like strangers met on the road.

A relative or not, he is a fellow countryman.

❖

The young rat knows how to gnaw its hole.

If you are not patient in small things,
you will bring great plans to naught.

If you see a strange thing and do not regard it as strange,
its strangeness will vanish.

Riches and fame are but dreams among men.

Riches adorn the dwelling virtue adorns the person.

❖

A rat who gnaws at a cat's tail invites destruction.

Rats know the way of rats.

Adapt the remedy to the disease.

Rice obtained by crookedness will not boil up into good food.

The rich add riches to riches the poor add years to years.

❖

The reward of good and evil is like
the shadow following the substance.

Until you have rectified yourself, you cannot rectify others.

Never joke in the presence of a prince.

Cheap things are of no value valuable things are not cheap.

Better die than turn your back on propriety.

❖

Even though a snake enter a bamboo tube,
it still inclines to wriggle.

If the profits are great, the risks are great.

Pride invites calamity humility reaps its harvest.

Preserve the old, but know the new.

The best way to avoid punishment is to fear it.

❖

When the prince wants a minister to die, he dies.

The priest never returns to his temple
and the merchant to his shop.

It is better to offer your prayers to the spirits than to man.

Just scales and full measure injure no man.

If you do not enter the tiger's den, how can you get his cub?

❖

Those who are happy do not observe how time goes by.

There is no poverty where there is virtue
and no wealth or honor where virtue is not.

Every family cooking pot has one black spot.

Make your whole year's plans in the spring,
and your day's plans early in the morning.

Our pleasures are shallow our sorrows are deep.

❖

If you want a plan by which to stop drinking,
look at a drunken man when you are sober.

Great politeness usually means "I want something."

Excessive politeness assuredly conceals conceit.

Poverty is the common fate of scholars.

Any place in the yellow earth will do to bury a man.

❖

Too many pilots wreck the ship.

When the tree falls there is no shade.

When times are easy we do not burn incense,
but when trouble comes we embrace the feet of the Buddha.

Let your practice keep step with your knowledge.

Little posts cannot support heavy weights.

❖

As the pine and the cedar endure the frost and snow,
so intelligence and wisdom overcome dangers and hardships.

Everyone has a black pig in his house.

It is difficult for one man to act a play.

Pottery and fine porcelain must not quarrel.

If you do not support your parents while alive,
it is of no use to sacrifice to them when dead.

❖

It is difficult for parents to guarantee
the virtues of their sons and daughters.

If you wish to succeed, consult three old people.

You can't use paper to wrap up fire.

He who turns to look a second time will lose nothing.

To dig up a tree, you must begin with the root.

❖

Though a tree be a thousand feet high,
the leaves fall and return to the root.

The past is as clear as a mirror, the future as dark as lacquer.

Paper and brush may kill a man you don't need a knife.

Avoid offending three classes of people:
officials, customers, and widows.

Consider the past and you will know the future.

❖

A people without faith in themselves cannot survive.

Though the peony is beautiful it is supported by its green leaves.

Destroy all passion when you light the lamp before the Buddha.

The peony is large, but useless to man the jujube blossom,
though small, ripens into precious fruit.

Much talk brings on trouble much food bring son indigestion.

❖

If an ox won't drink, you can't make him bow his head.

As the water level sinks the stones are exposed.

Good parents, happy marriages good children, fine funerals.

The ox ploughs the field, and the horse eats the grain.

An official never flogs a bearer of gifts.

❖

A divided orange tastes just as good.

You can't beat oil out of chaff.

When the oil has burned dry,
the lamp goes out.

Money hides a thousand deformities.

Mischief all comes from much opening of the mouth.

❖

Rich men have short memories.

With money you can influence the spirits
without it you cannot summon a man.

Throw a tile over the wall and you cannot know how it lands.

The hard work of a hundred years may be destroyed in an hour.

Money comes like earth scooped up with a needle
it goes like sand washed away by water.

❖

The mind is the lord of man's body.

It is better to go hungry with a pure mind
than to eat well with an evil one.

When men are really friends, then even water is sweet.

Merit and renown are but gulls floating on the water.

A mind enlightened is like the halls of Heaven,
a mind in darkness is like the realm of Hell.

❖

Lend money to a bad debtor and he will hate you.

If you have money, you can make spirits turn the mill.

Money unjustly gotten is but snow on which hot water is poured.

Without sorrows none become Buddhas.

There is no highroad to happiness or misfortunes
every man brings them on himself.

❖❖❖

Chinese Proverbs (001-100)
Chinese Proverbs (101-200)
Chinese Proverbs (201-300)
Chinese Proverbs (301-400)
Chinese Proverbs (401-500)
Chinese Proverbs (501-600)
Chinese Proverbs (601-636)

Chinese Proverbs (201-300)

❖

Don't climb a tree to look for fish.

Tiger and deer do not walk together.

If two men unite, their money will buy gold.

In a multitude of words there will certainly be a mistake.

It is a mistake to go to a Buddhist monastery to borrow a comb.

❖

Much money moves the gods.

To one who waits, a moment seems a year.

When the messenger of death comes, all affairs cease.

If a little money does not go out, great money will not come in.

Ready money can buy whatever is in stock.

❖

If you wish to know the mind of a man, listen to his words.

If you lose your needle in the grass, look for it in the grass.

There are times when even the tiger sleeps.

The great tree attracts the wind.

Though a mother give birth to nine sons, all nine will be different.

❖

This morning knows not this evening's happenings.

When the moth flies around the flame,
it burns itself to death.

Talk of music only to a musician.

When climbing a high mountain, take no step backward.

If you don't climb the high mountain, you can't view the plain.

❖

Better good neighbors that are near than relatives far away.

Guard your mouth as though it were a vase,
and guard your thoughts as you would a city wall.

To get up early for three mornings is equal to one day of time.

No needle has two sharp points.

A wife's long tongue is the staircase by which
misfortunes ascend to the house.

❖

Better live a beggar than a dead king.

If you are patient in one moment of anger,
you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.

It is difficult to satisfy one's appetite by painting pictures of cakes.

An army of a thousand is easy to find,
but, ah, how difficult to find a general.

Two barrels of tears will not heal a bruise.

❖

If you accommodate others,
will be accommodating yourself.

A basket cannot dam a stream for long.

Words are the voice of the heart.

The axe strikes the chisel, and the chisel strikes the wood.

Don't go on a man's bond in public,
nor guarantee his debts in private.

❖

A single tree does not make a forest.

Straight trees are felled first sweet wells are drained first.

Planning is in the power of man executing is in the hands of Heaven.

When you travel by boat be prepared for a dunking.

If you associate with officials you will be a beggar,
if with merchants you will be rich.

❖

The wise bee does not sip from a flower that has fallen.

Without the aid of the divine, man cannot walk even an inch.

Books do not exhaust words words do not exhaust thoughts.

One body cannot perform two services.

A load of books does not equal one good teacher.

❖

The full teapot makes no sound the half-empty teapot is very noisy.

Even a beggar will not cross a rotten wooden bridge.

He painted a tiger, but it turned out a cur.

He who rides the tiger finds it difficult to dismount.

A wise bird selects its tree.

❖

If you cannot pole a boat, don't meddle with the pole.

While the boy is small, you can see the man.

A full bottle won't shake a half empty one will.

If you are surety for the bow, you are surety for the arrow.

If the bow is drawn taut, the arrow will fly fast.

❖

Sow early and you will reap early.

A man's body buried in the snow will after a time come to light.

It is the beautiful bird that we put in the cage.

Blessings never come in pairs misfortunes never come singly.

Words are empty, but the writing brush leaves traces.

❖

When troubles are few, dreams are few.

A bachelor of arts discusses books a pork butcher talks of pigs.

To bow the body is easy to bow the will is hard.

He who restrains his appetite avoids debt.

Propriety governs the superior man law, the inferior man.

❖

It is difficult to get a good word it is easy to give a bad one.

If one word does not succeed, ten thousand are of no avail.

The two words, "peace" and "tranquillity,"
are worth a thousand pieces of gold.

Bitter words are medicine sweet words bring illness.

Words unspoken are not known.

❖

For an intelligent man, one word and he understands.

Following virtue is like climbing a hill following evil,
like slipping down a precipice.

Words are empty, but the writing brush leaves traces.

A single kind word keeps one warm for three winters.

When the blind leads the blind,
indeed they will both fall into the water.

❖

A singing bird killed furnishes no flesh.

Carefulness can go everywhere.

A good breakfast cannot take the place of the evening meal.

If brothers disagree, the bystander takes advantage.

Even brothers keep careful accounts.

❖

If you are willing to eat cabbage stalks,
you can accomplish a hundred affairs.

It is too late to pierce the ears of the bride
when she is in her wedding chair.

He whose virtues exceed his talents is the superior man
he whose talents exceed his virtues is the inferior man.

Do not think any vice trivial, and so practice it
do not think any virtue trivial, and so neglect it.

Brothers are like hands and feet.

❖

When you buy shoes, measure your feet.

Too many bricklayers make a lopsided house.

Where there is a cart ahead there is a track behind.

To spoil a child is to kill it.

You may change the clothes, you cannot change the man.

❖

With clothes the new are best with friends the old are best.

If all your life you have had a clear conscience,
you need not fear a knock at the door at midnight.

The conquerors are kings the defeated are bandits.

The bamboo stick makes a good child.

To walk in the path of virtue for ten years is not enough
to do evil for a single day is too much.

❖

With great doubts comes great understanding
with small doubts comes little understanding.

If there is no one at home, don't leave
clothes to dry before the fire.

Do not pray for gold and jade and precious things,
but pray that your children and grandchildren may all be good.

Abroad we look at a man's clothes at home we look at the man.

You cannot take white cloth out of a tub full of indigo.

❖❖❖

Chinese Proverbs (001-100)
Chinese Proverbs (101-200)
Chinese Proverbs (201-300)
Chinese Proverbs (301-400)
Chinese Proverbs (401-500)
Chinese Proverbs (501-600)
Chinese Proverbs (601-636)

Chinese Proverbs (301-400)

❖

Mutual confidence is the pillar of friendship.

There are no filial children at the bedside of long-sick people.

Crows are black the whole world over.

Customers are the precious things goods are only grass.

When you enter a country,
inquire as to what is forbidden.
When you cross a boundary,
ask about the customs.

❖

Better to be too credulous than too skeptical.

When you drink the water, remember the spring.

Look at the weather when you step out,
look at men's faces when you step in.

In a narrow lane watch out for a dagger.

The crow does not roost with the phoenix.

❖

One evening's conversation with a superior man
is better than ten years of study.

A whitewashed crow will not remain white long.

Even a clever daughter-in-lw finds it hard to cook without rice.

When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them.

The world's affairs are but a dream in spring.

❖

He who could foresee affairs three days in advance
would be rich for thousands of years.

Keep your broken arm inside your sleeve.

When a word has once left the lips,
the swiftest horse cannot overtake it.

Water can support a ship, and water can upset it.

One's acquaintances may fill the empire,
but one's real friends can be but few.

❖

In bed, husband and wife out of bed, guests.

Settle one difficulty, and you keep a hundred others away.

If you want your dinner, don't offend the cook.

The poorer one is, the more devils he meets.

To see a man do a good deed is to forget all his faults.

❖

He who hurries cannot walk with dignity.

Evil deeds done in secret are seen by the spirits as a flash of fire.

To learn what is good,
a thousand days are not sufficient.
To learn what is evil, an hour is too long.

Better be a demon in a large temple than a god in a small one.

To pour out water is easy, to gather it up is difficult.

❖

Clean out the drainpipes while the weather is good.

To be for one day entirely at leisure
is to be for one day an immortal.

The deer hunter does not look at the hare.

There is a day to cast your nets and a day to dry your nets.

Though you are starving to death, do not steal.

❖

There is a day to be born and a day to die.

One dog barks at something
and a hundred bark at the sound.

Dragons beget dragons
phoenixes hatch out phoenixes.

It is easier to know how to do a thing than to do it.

The door of virtues is hard to open.

❖

Dogs show no aversion to poor families.

Distant water cannot quench a fire nearby.

Water may flow in a thousand channels,
but it all returns to the sea.

With money you are a dragon, without it you are a worm.

It is easy to go from economy to extravagance
it is hard to go from extravagance to economy.

❖

When with dwarfs, do not talk about pygmies.

Heaped up earth becomes a mountain
accumulated water becomes a river.

A dragon stranded in a shallow water
furnishes amusement for the shrimps.

If the dog goes when the cat comes, there will be no fight.

Beat your drum inside the house and your neighbors will not hear it.

❖

Even though your dwelling contains a thousand rooms,
you can use but eight feet of space a night.

The dove recognizes its own ridgepole.

A good drum does not require hard beatings.

If water is too clear, it will contain no fish.

Keep your offense in your bosom,
and you may meet as before.

❖

A lean dog shames his master.

Better a dog in times of peace than a man in times of rebellion.

A drum beaten on a hill is heard far and wide.

Diseases enter by the mouth, misfortunes issue from it.

In beating a dog, first find out who his owner is.

❖

When the flight is not high the fall is not heavy.

Strike a flint and you get fire.
Don't strike it and not even smoke will come.

He who will not accept an old man's advice,
will some day be a beggar.

He who carries a basket of lime leaves footprints wherever he stops.

Forethought is easy, but regret is difficult.

❖

Even though you have ten thousand fields,
you can eat but one measure of rice

The big fish eat the little fish, the little fish eat the water-insects,
and the water-insects eat the weeds and the mud.

To meet an old friend in a distant land
is like refreshing rain after a long drought.

One generation plants the trees under whose cool shade another generation takes its ease.

Fuel is not sold in the forest, nor fish on the shore of a lake.

❖

If you cannot catch fish, catch shrimps.

You raise flowers for a year you see them for but ten days.

Fuel alone will not light a fire.

Friends should have a high wall between them.

Friends while wine and meat are there,
husband and wife while there are fuel and rice.

❖

Can't load a small boat with heavy cargo.

A well-known friend is a treasure.

You can't catch two frogs with on hand.

If you believe in gambling, in the end you will sell your house.

The older ginger and cinnamon become,
the more pungent is their flavor.

❖

The friendship of officials is as thin as paper.

Always treat your friends as when you first met them,
then in old age you will have no hatred in your heart.

If there are no fish in this place, then drop your hook in another.

A single fiber does not make a thread.

When you have tea and wine, you have many friends.

❖

If one piece is moved wrongly, the whole game is lost.

Gamblers know neither fathers nor sons.

It is easier to visit friends than to live with them.

It is difficult to win a friend in a year,
it is easy to offend one in an hour.

Make friendships with men better than yourself,
better none than those like yourself.

❖

If you continually give you will continually have.

Good friends settle their accounts speedily.

If a gambler can reform, then there is a cure for leprosy.

When fortune has departed,
even yellow gold tarnishes when good fortune comes,
even iron shines brightly.

The fish that escaped is the big one.

❖

Whatever satisfies hunger is good food.

It is better to call upon others by yourself, than to send others.

When fortune is good, you rule over the devils.
When fortune is bad, they rule over you.

If you drink with a friend, a thousand cups are too few.
If you argue with a man, half a sentence is too much.

To be a thousand days a ghost is not equal to being one day a man.

❖❖❖

Chinese Proverbs (001-100)
Chinese Proverbs (101-200)
Chinese Proverbs (201-300)
Chinese Proverbs (301-400)
Chinese Proverbs (401-500)
Chinese Proverbs (501-600)
Chinese Proverbs (601-636)

Chinese Proverbs (401-500)

❖

If friends have faith in each other
life and death are of no consequence.

If your books are unread, your descendants will be ignorant.

Soft grass follows the wind.

At steady gambling even the gods and immortals lose.

Yellow gold is plentiful in the world,
white-haired old friends are few.

❖

It is good to be neither high nor low.

The word forbearance is the treasure of the household.

Yellow gold has its price learning is priceless.

Even the gods and immortals sometimes make mistakes.

He who sows his grain in the field puts his trust in Heaven.

❖

To talk good is not to be good,
to do good, that is being good.

Working slowly produces fine goods.

All the thousands and tens of thousands of gods are all one god.

If there is gold in the house,
there are money scales waiting outside to weigh it.

When you have once gone out the door,
we do not recognize the goods.

❖

By following the good you learn to be good.

In the field the good grain is the other fellow's
on the road the pretty woman is the other man's wife.

Even the ten fingers cannot be of equal length.

Do not thrust your finger through your own paper lantern.

Gods and immortals sometimes lose their swords.

❖

Pure gold does not fear the furnace.

The wild grass fears the frost, and the frost fears the sun.

When the guests have gone the host is at peace.

In haste there is error.

What one hears is doubtful,
what one sees with one's own eyes is certain.

❖

Though the left hand conquer the right, no advantage is gained.

Don't ask a guest if you may kill a fowl for him.

There is no grief so great as that for a dead heart.

Other people's harvests are always the best harvests.
One's children are always the best children.

A dry finger cannot take up salt.

❖

Do not rely on your present good fortune.
Prepare for the year when it may leave you.

"I heard" is not as good as "I saw."

The distant grove you see surrounds either a house or a grave.

If you have happiness, don't use it all up.

You can't clap with one hand.

❖

Heat belongs to all cold varies with the clothing.

A house established by oppression
cannot long enjoy its prosperity.

At home it is always pleasant,
far away from home it is always unpleasant.

Better at home than a mile away from it.

If the heart is firm, the body is cool.

❖

When the horse comes to the edge of the cliff,
it is too late to draw rein.

The fish sees the bait, not the hook.

Horse and cow face the wind differently.

The heart of a little child is like the heart of the Buddha.

Almighty Heaven is not indifferent
to those whose hearts are earnest.

❖

Cavalry horses delight in battle.

He who sows hemp will reap hemp.
He who sows beans will reap beans.

For each man to whom Heaven gives birth
the earth provides a grave.

What Heaven has ordained man cannot oppose.

To follow the will of Heaven is to prosper to rebel
against the will of Heaven is to be destroyed.

❖

If Heaven creates a man, there must be some use for him.

Even a good horse cannot wear two saddles.

If there is food left over in the kitchen,
there are poor people in the street.

Heaven protects the good man.

To know one's self is to know others,
for heart can understand heart.

❖

A little impatience spoils great plans.

Don't waste days in idleness the bright spring
will not come this way again.

Ivory does not grow in the mouth of a dog.

Hunger is cured by food, ignorance by study.

With happiness comes intelligence to the heart.

❖

Idleness breeds lust.

Find your inn before nightfall.

Economy makes men independent.

A great fortune depends on luck, a small one on diligence.

Garden flowers are not as fragrant as the flowers of the field,
but the flowers of the field do not last as long.

❖

An inch of gold will not buy an inch of time.

Ice three feet thick is not frozen in a day.

One family builds a wall, two families enjoy it.

An inch of time on the sundial is worth more than a foot of jade.

An innkeeper never worries if your appetite is big.

❖

Don't burn false incense before a true god.

An image-maker never worships the Buddha.

One does not use good iron to make nails,
nor good men to make soldiers.

Alms given openly will be rewarded in secret.

Each house has its long and its short.
Each door has its high and its low.

❖

Have no recollection of favors given.
Do not forget benefits conferred.

If family lives in harmony, all affairs will prosper.

Intelligence consists in recognizing opportunity.

Of ten reasons which a judge may have for deciding a case,
nine will be unknown to men.

One joy scatters a hundred griefs.

❖

Beautiful or not, it is my native land.

When a king makes a mistake, all the people suffer.

The lamp of one house cannot light two houses.

Wherever you go, speak the language of that place.

Learning is like rowing upstream not to advance is to drop back.

❖

Learning which does not advance each day will daily decrease.

When the leopard dies, he leaves his skin a man, his reputation.

To attend the emperor is like sleeping with a tiger.

The first part of the night, think of your own faults,
the latter part, think of the faults of others.

Win your lawsuit and lose your money.

❖

Though annoyed to death, do not file a lawsuit.

Even if we study to old age we shall not finish learning.

To learn to be industrious takes three years,
to learn to be lazy takes only three days.

If you don't want anyone to know it, don't do it.

Learning is a treasure which follows its owner everywhere.

❖

The hinge of a door is never crowded with insects.

The lamp of one house cannot light two houses.

Wherever you go, speak the language of that place.

One lamp in a dark place is better than lighting a seven-story pagoda.

He who teaches me for one day is my father for life.

❖❖❖

Chinese Proverbs (001-100)
Chinese Proverbs (101-200)
Chinese Proverbs (201-300)
Chinese Proverbs (301-400)
Chinese Proverbs (401-500)
Chinese Proverbs (501-600)
Chinese Proverbs (601-636)

Chinese Proverbs (501-600)

❖

Though lamb may be good,
it is difficult to cook it to suit everyone's taste.

It is easy to govern a kingdom but difficult to rule one's family.

One lamp in a dark place is better than
lighting a seven-story pagoda.

Don't laugh at him who is old.
The same will assuredly happen to us.

Man's life is like a candle in the wind,
or like the frost upon the tiles.

❖

Sweet-melon lips, bitter-melon heart.

Literature does not lead men astray.

Full-fledged birds fly away.

The light of a hundred stars does not
equal the light of the moon.

In life beware of the law court in death beware of hell.

❖

Beauty does not ensnare men they ensnare themselves.

If a family has an old person in it, it possesses a jewel.

If one morning you make a false step,
a hundred lifetimes cannot redeem it.

To understand your parents' love you must raise children yourself.

Don't lift off the lid too soon.

❖

Light travels like an arrow, and time like a shuttle.

To save a single life is better than
building a seven-story pagoda.

A man without determination is but an untempered sword.

A red-nosed man may not be a drunkard,
but he will always be called one.

A man who knows too many crafts cannot feed his family.

❖

A man cannot be known by his looks,
nor can the sea be measured with a bushel basket.

A man does not live a hundred years,
yet he worries enough for a thousand.

Yearly guard against famine nightly guard against thieves.

We know men's faces, not their minds.

A honest magistrate cannot succeed.

❖

A small man with education is of use to the state.
Of what use is a tall man who knows nothing?

An honest magistrate has lean clerks.
A powerful god has fat priests.

To open a book brings profit.

A man without a smiling face should not open a shop.

A good man protects three villages a good dog, three houses.

❖

A man whose heart is not content is like a snake
which tries to swallow an elephant.

A healthy poor man is worth half a rich one.

A maiden marries to please her parents, a widow to please herself.

If good luck comes, who doesn't?
If good luck does not come, who does?

When you sit alone, meditate on your own faults.
When you converse, do not discuss the faults of others.

❖

There are no feasts in the world which do not break up at last.

At birth we bring nothing, at death we take away nothing.

Look at the book and sing as it directs.

When the boat reaches midstream, it is too late to stop the leak.

The blind are quick at hearing the deaf are quick at sight.

❖

Never leave your field in spring or your house in winter.

A wise man will not reprove a fool.

A wise man who has seen everything
is not the equal of one who has done one thing with his hands.

A wise man makes his own decisions,
an ignorant man follows public opinion.

If the poor man associates with the rich,
he will soon have no trousers to wear.

❖

If you suspect a man, don't employ him.
If you employ a man, don't suspect him.

The first time it is a favor the second, a rule.

If man cheats the earth, the earth will cheat man.

The contented man, though poor,
is happy the discontented man, though rich, is sad.

Man has a thousand schemes Heaven has but one.

❖

Man cannot be always fortunate flowers do not last forever.

What a man says in private, Heaven hears as the voice of thunder.

The man on horseback knows nothing
of the toil of the traveler on foot.

Get the coffin ready and the man won't die.

In bowing in a dark place each man follows his own inclination.

❖

The man destined to happiness need not be in a hurry.

Heaven and earth Man is Heaven and earth in miniature.

Without experience one gains no wisdom.

To hear it told is not equal to experience.

Man sees the gain, not the danger.

❖

He is truly a superior man who can watch a chess game in silence.

One man tells a falsehood, a hundred repeat it as true.

He who rides in the chair is a man,
He who carries the chair is also a man.

Man can cure disease, but not fate.

The rich man plans for the future,
but the poor man for the present.

❖

If a man is evil, men fear him but Heaven does not.
If a man is virtuous, men oppress him but Heaven does not.

Man is, of all creation, the spiritual intelligence.

If a man does not receive guests at home,
he will meet very few hosts abroad.

There is many a good man to be found under a shabby hat.

Hide the evil show the good.

❖

Even the emperor has straw-sandaled relatives.

If your fields are not ploughed, your store house will be empty.

One bamboo does not make a row.

A lost inch of gold may be found a lost inch of time, never.

Master easy, servant slack.

❖

No medicine can cure a vulgar man.

When a man is poor he remembers old debts due him.

When the melon is ripe, it will drop of itself.

There is many a good man to be found under a shabby hat.

What a man says in private, Heaven hears as the voice of thunder.

❖

The rich man plans for the future, but the poor man for the present.

What the eye does not see the heart does not grieve for.

Though the emperor has wealth,
he cannot buy ten thousand years of life.

A thousand masters, a thousand methods.

The mantis seizes the locust,
but does not see the yellow bird behind him.

❖

Nine out of ten matchmakers are liars.

From the roof of a house a melon may roll either of two ways.

Without a true friend the intelligent man
cannot know the mistakes that he makes.

A melon seller never cries "bitter melons,"
nor a wine seller "thin wine."

The melon seller shouts that his melons are sweet.

❖

A frog in a well is best off in the well.

If you do nothing for your fellow man,
then all your prayers to the Buddha are in vain.

The summer insect cannot talk of ice.
The frog in the well cannot talk of Heaven.

The farmer hopes for rain, the traveler for fine weather.

Sleep is a priceless treasure
the more one has of it, the better it is.

❖

One generation opens the road
upon which another generation travels.

You can't get fat from a dry bone.

Blame yourself as you would blame others
as you would excuse yourself.

When the cat has gone, the rats come out to stretch themselves.

Look upon death as a going home.

❖❖❖

Chinese Proverbs (001-100)
Chinese Proverbs (101-200)
Chinese Proverbs (201-300)
Chinese Proverbs (301-400)
Chinese Proverbs (401-500)
Chinese Proverbs (501-600)
Chinese Proverbs (601-636)

Chinese Proverbs (601-637)

❖

Keep your broken arm inside your sleeve.

When walking through your neighbors melon patch,
don’t tie your shoe.

Dogs show no aversion to poor families.

If the dog goes when the cat comes,
there will be no fight.

The elephant is killed because he has tusks.

❖

Strike an egg against a stone and the yolk runs out at once.

In beating a dog, first find out who his owner is.

A lean dog shames his master.

Better a dog in times of peace than a man in times of rebellion.

One dog barks at something and a hundred bark at the sound.

❖

Want a thing long enough, and you don’t.

A worn out boat still has three thousand nails in it.

No melon seller yells “Bitter melons!”

After a typhoon there are pears to gather up.

You won’t help shoots grow by pulling them up higher.

❖

When rats infest the palace a lame cat is better than the swiftest horse.

He lifts his feet high who puts on boots for the first time.

When you paint a dragon, you paint his skin.
It is difficult to paint the bones.

You cannot fill your belly by painting pictures of bread.

❖

A dog’s mouth yields no ivory.

Better to light a candle, than to curse the darkness.

When white cloth has been dipped in the dyeing vat,
it is difficult to tell it from black.

Eggs must not quarrel with stones.

A clever doctor never treats himself.

❖

The door of charity is hard to open and hard to shut.

The doctor who rides in a chair will not visit the house of the poor.

You continually grind a bar of iron, you can make a needle of it.

He who does not accept cash when offered is no businessman.

Leave a little of the tail to whisk off the flies.

❖

Even he who has accumulated 10,000 coins of silver
cannot take a single one with him at death.

A good talker does not equal a good listener.

A thousand coins won’t purchase a laugh.

It is easier to run down a hill than up one.

Herons do no eat herons’ flesh.

❖

Every highway leads to Peking.

If the main timbers in the house are not straight,
the smaller timbers will be unsafe
and if the smaller timbers are not straight,
house will fall.

When you know a man,
you know his face but not his heart.

❖❖❖

Chinese Proverbs (001-100)
Chinese Proverbs (101-200)
Chinese Proverbs (201-300)
Chinese Proverbs (301-400)
Chinese Proverbs (401-500)
Chinese Proverbs (501-600)
Chinese Proverbs (601-636)

Happiness is often like a sunbeam, while adversity is often like the rain of spring. ~ Chinese Proverb [16743]

Photo by Eusebius © Guillaume Piolle
[GFDL or CC-BY-3.0],
via Wikimedia Commons

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16, POTD, Proverb of the Day,

Man who waits for roast duck to fly into mouth must wait very, very long time. ~ Chinese Proverb [17729]

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16, POTD, Proverb of the Day,

Better the cottage where one is merry than the palace where one weeps. ~ Chinese Proverb [15903]

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16q, QOTD,

The fool ignores proverbs, while the wise man learns from them. ~ Chinese Proverb [19649]

Photo by Ben Hodgson
Public Domain

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16, POTD, Proverb of the Day,

Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself. ~ Chinese Proverb [18392]

The Allegory of Teaching, c. 1600
By anonymous German painter [Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons

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16, POTD, Proverb of the Day,

Great doubts deep wisdom. Small doubts little wisdom. ~ Chinese Proverb [16725]

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16q, QOTD,

Use power to curb power. ~ Chinese Proverb [19169]

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16q, QOTD,

Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still. ~ Chinese Proverb [15795]

Photo by Anders Carlsson (Flickr : Åre 06) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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16, POTD, Proverb of the Day,

May the blue bird of happiness fly up your nose. ~ Chinese Proverb [17759]

By Mdf (Own work)
[GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0],
via Wikimedia Commons

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16, POTD, Proverb of the Day,

Always leave a little room for a mistake. ~ Chinese Proverb [15668]

Photo by Qeqertaq
[CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

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16, POTD, Proverb of the Day,

Biggest profits mean gravest risks. ~ Chinese Proverb [15940]

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16q, QOTD,

There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same. ~ Chinese Proverb [18972]

By http://www.flickr.com/people/skyseeker/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/skyseeker/300856592/) [CC-BY-2.0] via Wikimedia Commons

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If you neglect your art for one day it will neglect you for two.~ Chinese Proverb [17039]

Photo by Wonderworld1995268 (Own work)
[CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

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16, POTD, Proverb of the Day,