Browse Dozens of Proverbs
CHINESE
- " A bird can roost but on one branch, a mouse can drink not more than its fill from a river."
- "A book holds a house of gold."
- "A crane standing amidst a flock of chickens;"
- "A diamond with a flaw is worth more than a pebble without imperfections."
- "A dog in a kennel barks at his fleas; a dog hunting does not notice them."
- "A fall into a ditch makes you wiser."
- "A flea on the top of a bald head."
- "A frog in a well shaft seeing the sky."
- "A heart in love with beauty never grows old;"
- "A hundred men may make an encampment, but it takes a woman to make a home."
- "A little pot boils easily;"
- "A man without a smiling face must not open shop."
- "A murder may be forgiven, an affront never."
- "A needle is not sharp at both ends."
- "A tiger never returns to his prey he did not finish off."
- "A tree never hits an automobile except in self defense;"
- "A young branch takes on all the bends that one gives it."
- "Add legs to the snake after you have finished drawing it."
- "After victory, tighten your helmet chord;"
- "An ant may well destroy a whole dam;"
- "An inch of time is an inch of gold but you can't buy that inch of time with an inch of gold. "
- " Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still."
- "Be on your guard against a silent dog and still water;"
- "Before dinner, let us explore the southern plains and climb the northern mountains. After dinner, there are snakes in the southern plains and tiger in the northern mountains."
- "Below the navel there is neither religion nor truth;"
- "Better be quarreling than lonesome;"
- "Blessings do not come in pairs; misfortunes never come singly."
- "Butcher the donkey after it finished his job on the mill."
- "By asking for the impossible, obtain the best possible;"
- "Catch a Cub in Its Den;"
- "Complain to one who can help you;"
- "Do not lengthen the quarrel while there is an opportunity of escaping;"
- "Do not remove a fly from your friend's forehead with a hatchet."
- "Donkey's lips do not fit onto a horse's mouth;"
- "Even a clock that does not work is right twice a day;"
- "Even a hare will bite when it is cornered."
- "Every day cannot be a feast of lanterns."
- "Experience is a comb which nature gives us when we are bald."
- "Fail to steal the chicken while it ate up your bait grain."
- "Fight a wolf with a flex stalk."
- "Flies never visit an egg that has no crack."
- "Flowing water never goes bad; our door hubs never gather termites."
- "From a fallen tree, all make kindling;"
- "Give a man a fish, and you feed him a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime."
- "Govern a family as you would cook a small fish - very gently."
- "Govern a small family as you would cook a small fish, very gently. "
- " He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever."
- "He who builds by the roadside has many surveyors;"
- "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."
- "He who is not impatient is not in love;"
- "He who rides the tiger can never dismount."
- "He who would rise in the world should veil his ambition with the forms of humanity."
- "I dreamed a thousand new paths... I woke and walked my old one."
- "I was angered, for I had no shoes. Then I met a man who had no feet."
- "If a son is uneducated, his dad is to blame."
- "If luck comes, who comes not? If luck comes not, who comes?;"
- "If you bow at all, bow low;"
- "If you do not study hard when young you'll end up bewailing your failures as you grow up."
- "If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees;"
- "If you want to be respected, you must respect yourself;"
- "If your head is wax, don't walk in the sun;"
- "In times of prosperity friends will be plenty, in times of adversity not one in twenty;"
- "It is not necessary to light a candle to the sun."
- "It is not the knowing that is difficult, but the doing."
- "Judge not the horse by his saddle;"
- "Keep your broken arm inside your sleeve;"
- "Kill a chicken before a monkey."
- "Kill one to warn a hundred; "
- " L'amour faite passer les temps. Les temps faite passer l'amour. (Love makes time pass. Time makes love pass."
- "Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere."
- "Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends whom we choose."
- "Lift a stone only to drop on your own feet."
- "Like ants eating a bone;"
- "Looking for the ass on its very back."
- "Make sure to be in with your equals if you're going to fall out with your superiors;"
- "Many men know how to flatter, few men know how to praise."
- "Men in the game are blind to what men looking on see clearly."
- "Men trip not on mountains they trip on molehills."
- "Mend the pen only after the sheep are all gone."
- "Never draw your dirk when a blow will do it;"
- "Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you;"
- "No Rice, No Wife to Cook;"
- "No wind, no waves."
- "Not the cry, but the flight of the wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow. "
- " One man will carry two buckets of water for his own use, Two men will carry one for their joint use; Three men will carry none for anybody's use."
- "Only he that has traveled the road knows where the holes are deep."
- "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun;"
- "Play a harp before a cow."
- "Prepare for calamity not yet in bud."
- "Small men think they are small; great men never know they are great."
- "The best soldiers are not warlike."
- "The first time it is a favour, the second time a rule."
- "The Gods cannot help those who do not seize opportunities."
- "The longer the night lasts, the more our dreams will be."
- "The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out."
- "The old horse may die in someone's keeping."
- "The one legged never stumble."
- "The sinning is the best part of repentance;"
- "The unlucky doctor treats the head of a disease, the lucky doctor its tail."
- "The wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water moulds itself to the pitcher."
- "There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same."
- "There is no one to sweep a common hall."
- "Those who sleep with dogs will rise with fleas;"
- "To change and change for the better are two different things;"
- "To know the road ahead, ask those coming back."
- "To open a shop is easy, to keep it open is an art. "
- " Use soft words and hard arguments;"
- "Virtue never dwells alone; it always has neighbours."
- "Waiting for a rabbit to hit upon a tree and be killed in order to catch it."
- "Want a thing long enough and you don't;"
- "We are not so much concerned if you are slow as when you come to a halt."
- "When a finger points at the moon, the imbecile looks at the finger."
- "When friends ask, there is no tomorrow;"
- "When the butcher dies, do you think we shall eat our pork with the bristles on?;"
- "When you bow, bow low."
- "When you throw dirt, you lose ground;"
- "Where God has his church the Devil will have his chapel;"
- "While one milks the ram, the other holds under the sieve."
- "With money you are a dragon; with no money, a worm. "
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