China is said to have more proverbs than anywhere else on Earth. The
orgins of some are lost in the mists of time. Others appear to be related
to comments by Confucius and other ancient sages. Some also appear elsewhere,
such as in the form of Zen sayings extant in Japan. Most of those below
are in the rendering of Chinese Proverbs from Olden Times, Peter
Pauper Press, Mt. Vernon, N.Y. , 1956. Those marked with stars are proverbs
that appear in the above book, but the form given here is my own rendering
or a rendering or translation that I have come across elsewhere.
--Victor Daniels, 5-23-05 |
- The swiftest horse can't
overtake a word once spoken*
- Before telling secrets on
the road, look in the bushes
- A bad word whispered echoes
a hundred miles*
- In a flood of words, surely
some mistakes*
- A sharp tongue or pen can
kill without a knife*
- If the first words fail,
ten thousand will then not avail
- Watching chess games in
silence. . .a superior person*
- The judge with seven reasons
states only one in court
- If you want no one to know,
don't do it*
- If you want your dinner,
don't insult the cook*
- Honest scales and full measure
hurt no one*
- Divide an orange--it tastes
just as good
- If you always give you will
always have
- Better lean and good than
fat and evil
- To build it took one hundred
years; to destroy it one day
- To know the road ahead,
ask those returning*
- Touch black paint, have
black fingers
- To succeed, consult three
old people
- If you hurry through long
days, you will hurry through short years
- Touch black paint, have
black fingers
- The ripest fruit falls by
itself*
- Simple to open a shop; another
thing to keep it open
- What you don't see, you
don't desire*
- Neither fortunes nor flowers
last forever*
- An inch of gold can't buy
an inch of time
- Don't waste your hour--the
sun sets soon
- My life--a candle in the
wind. . . frost on the leaves*
- Nurture the plant one year--ten
days of flowers
- Slow work--fine work
- At birth we bring our nothing;
at death we leave with the same*
- A king's riches cannot buy
an extra year*
- Beat the drum inside the
house to spare the neighbors
- Climb the mountains to see
lowlands
- Laws control a lesser person;
right conduct controls a greater one*
- Forget the favors given;
remember those received
- A careful foot can step
anywhere*
- Stare at the profit and
step in the pitfall
- In bed be wife and husband,
in the hall each other's honored guest
- To stop drinking, study
a drunkard while you are sober
- If Heaven made someone,
earth can find some use for them
- Without sorrows no one becomes
a saint
- The pine stays green in
winter. . . wisdom in hardship
- Three feet of ice were not
frozen in a day*
- With virtue you can't be
completely poor; without it you can't be truly rich*
- Determination tempers the
sword of your character*
- Stout men, not stout walls,
make the stout city
- To be heard afar, bang your
gong on a hilltop
- Great doubts, deep wisdom.
. . small doubts, little wisdom
- To know others, know yourself
first*
- His virtues exceed his talents--a
superior man *
- When the waters drop, the
rocks appear*
- O eggs, don't fight with
rocks*
- Easier to rule a nation
than a child*
- To have principles first
have courage
- Blame yourself as you blame
others; forgive others as you forgive yourself
- The wise listens to her
mind, the foolish to the mob*
- A whitewashed crow soon
shows black again
- Watch over workers at their
labors, not their meals*
- Many a good face under a
ragged hat
- Dogs have no prejudice against
the poor
- If Heaven made someone,
earth can find some use for them*
- Tile tossed over the wall.
. . who knows where it will fall?*
- No horse can wear two saddles
*
- While you are bargaining,
conceal your coin
- No guests at home, no hosts
abroad
- "I heard" is good;
"I saw" is better
- We can study until old age.
. . and still not finish
- A good teacher. . . better
than a barrowful of books
- Teachers open the door;
you enter by yourself
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