The Goddess of Mercy & The Dept. of Miracles

Folk Sayings of China 4












Home





Water that has reached its level does not flow

Don’t waste good iron for nails or good men for soldiers

Man is Heaven and Earth in miniature

A reed before the wind lives on, while mighty oaks do fall

Happy people never count hours as they pass

When your horse in on the brink of a precipice, it is too late to pull the reins

Those who hear not the music think the dancers mad

Better die ten years early than live ten years poor

Better a dinner of herbs than a stalled ox where hate is

In the coldest flint there is hot fire

Patience and the mulberry leaf become a silk robe

Be just, before you’re generous

To violate the law is the same crime in the emperor as in the subject

Many books do not use up words; many words do not use up thoughts

Pleasures are shallow, sorrows deep

A client twixt his attorney and counselor is like a goose twixt two foxes

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

All things at first appear difficult

If there is a wave there must be a wind

The rich man plans for tomorrow, the poor man for today

One generation plants the trees, another gets the shade

Dogs have so many friends because they wag their tails, not their tongues

Listen to all, plucking a feather from every passing goose, but, follow no one absolutely

Runaway son, a shining jewel; runaway daughter, tarnished

Love is blind, friendship closes its eyes

 

Patience is a plaister for all sores

When you fall into a pit, you either die or get out

Schoolmaster, stick to your books; farmer, to your pigs

Practice no vice because it’s trivial; neglect no virtue because it’s so

If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come

He that has not bread to spare should not keep a dog

Once on a tiger’s back it is hard to alight

You cannot hook trout? Try digging clams

Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without

O man, you who do not live a hundred years, why fret a thousand minutes?

Of a good beginning cometh a good end

Be just, before you’re generous

Everyone pushes a falling fence

The pen can kill a man; no knife is needed

Plant the crab-tree where you will it will never bear pippins

Married couples tell each other a thousand things without speech

Be on a horse when you go in search of a better one

Man must be sharpened on man, like knife on stone

So lovers, to their fair one fondly blind, E’en on her ugliness with transport gaze

Judge not the horse by his saddle

Nature, time and patience are the three great physicians

To understand your parents’ love bear your own children

Fight fire with fire

Man fools himself He prays for a long life and he fears old age

The longer the night lasts, the more our dreams will be

 

The sheep has no choice when in the jaws of the wolf

A nation’s treasure

Kill the chicken to frighten the monkey

Temptation wrings integrity even as the thumbscrew twists a man’s fingers

What is whispered in your ear is often heard a hundred miles off

The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones

Habits are cobwebs at first, cables at last

Water and words are easy to pour but impossible to recover

When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them

A smile will gain you ten more years of life

No melon-peddler cries

Those who have free seats at a play hiss first

Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come

Deer-hunter, waste not your arrow on the hare

A rumour goes in one ear and out many mouths

The happiness in your pocket, don’t spend it all

Because men do not like the cold, Heaven does not cause winter to cease

One cannot manage too many affairs; like pumpkins in water, one pops up while you try to hold down the other

If you share a man’s wealth, try to lessen his misfortune

The best cure for drunkenness is whilst sober to observe a drunken person

The one who understands does not speak, the one who speaks does not understand

Dream of a funeral and you hear of a marriage

When the tree waves, wind is stirring

Govern a family as you would cook a small fish–very gently

A young doctor makes a full graveyard

 

Easy to know men’s faces, not their hearts

Fail to steal the chicken while it ate up your bait grain

A rumour goes in one ear and out many mouths

One cannot manage too many affairs; like pumpkins in water, one pops up while you try to hold down the other

The day your horse dies and your money’s lost, your relatives change to strangers

It is the beautiful bird which gets caged

Beat your drum inside the house to spare the neighbors

Four horses cannot overtake the tongue

O man, you who do not live a hundred years, why fret a thousand minutes?

Forget the favors you have given; remember those received

Make sure you leave some fat for the other side

The pen can kill a man; no knife is needed

Learning is better than house and land

In the presence of princes the cleverest jester is mute

Jade and men, both are sharpened by bitter tools

In shallow holes moles make fools of dragons

The broad-minded see the truth in different religions; the narrow-minded see only the differences

The peony is beautiful, yet it is supported by a stalk

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step

The great question is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with failure

The one who understands does not speak, the one who speaks does not understand

You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back

Mankind fears an evil man but heaven does not

To know the road ahead, ask those coming back

Better die ten years early than live ten years poor