Chinese Proverbs
The proverbs
are in alphabetical order; use up and down arrow keys
to choose a letter in text-only browsers. Use
your mouse to click otherwise.
|A| |B| |C|
|D| |E| |F|
|G| |H| |I|
|J| |K| |L|
|M| |N| |O|
|P| |Q| |R|
|S| |T| |U|
|V| |W| |X|
|Y| |Z|
A
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Add legs to the snake after you have finished drawing it.
(An annotation is available here.)
An ant may well destroy a whole dam. (An annotation is
available here.)
B
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A book holds a house of gold. (An annotation is
available here.)
Butcher the donkey after it finished his job on the mill.
(An annotation is available here.)
C
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A crane standing amidst a flock of chickens. (An
annotation is available here.)
A camel standing amidst a flock of sheep. (An annotation
is available here.)
Crows everywhere are equally black. (An annotation is
available here.)
D
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A dish of carrot hastily cooked may still has soil
uncleaned off the vegetable. (An annotation is available
here.)
Dismantle the bridge shortly after crossing it. (An
annotation is available here.)
Distant water won't help to put out a fire close at hand.
(An annotation is available here.)
Distant water won't quench your immediate thirst. (An
annotation is available here.)
Do not want others to know what you have done? Better not have
done it anyways.
Donkey's lips do not fit onto a horse's mouth. (An
annotation is available here.)
A dog won't forsake his master because of his poverty; a son
never deserts his mother for her homely appearance.
Dream different dreams while on the same bed. (An
annotation is available here.)
E
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Even a hare will bite when it is cornered.
F
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Fail to steal the chicken while it ate up your bait grain.
(An annotation is available here.)
A fall into a ditch makes you wiser. (An annotation is
available here.)
Fight a wolf with a flex stalk. (An annotation is
available here.)
A flea on the top of a bald head. (An annotation is
available here.)
Flowing water never goes bad; our door hubs never gather
termites. (An annotation is available
here.)
A frog in a well shaft seeing the sky. (An annotation is
available here.)
Flies never visit an egg that has no crack. (An annotation
is available here.)
G
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A good fortune may forbode a bad luck, which may in turn
disguise a good fortune. (An annotation is available
here.)
H
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Have a mouth as sharp as a dagger but a heart as soft as
tofu. (An annotation is available here.)
Have one's ears pierced only before the wedding ceremony
starts. (An annotation is available here.)
A horse cannot gain weight if not fed with extra fodder during
the night; a man cannot become wealthy without earnings apart from
his regular salaries.
How can you expect to find ivory in a dog's mouth? (An
annotation is available here.)
How can you put out a fire set on a cart-load of firewood with
only a cup of water? (An annotation is available
here.)
I
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If you do not study hard when young you'll end up
bewailing your failures as you grow up.
If a son is uneducated, his dad is to blame.
If you have never done anything evil, you should not be
worrying about devils to knock at your door. (A cross reference
is vailable here.)
An inch of time is an inch of gold but you can't buy that inch
of time with an inch of gold. (An annotation is available
here.)
It is easy to dodge a spear that comes in front of you but
hard to keep harms away from an arrow shot from behind. (A cross
reference is vailable here.)
J
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A Jade stone is useless before it is processed; a man is
good-for-nothing until he is educated. (An annotation is
available here.)
K
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Kill a chicken before a monkey. (An annotation is
available here.)
Kill one to warn a hundred. (An annotation is available
here.)
L
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Like ants eating a bone. (An annotation is available
here.)
Looking for the ass on its very back. (An annotation is
available here.)
Lift a stone only to drop on your own feet. (An American
equivalent is available here.)
The longer the night lasts, the more our dreams will be.
(An annotation is available here.)
M
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Mend the pen only after the sheep are all gone. (An
annotation is available here.)
N
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No wind, no waves. (English counterpart can be checked
here.)
O
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Of all the strategems, to know when to quit is the best.
(Literary translation of the original is available
here.)
Once bitten by a snake, he/she is scared all his/her life at
the mere sight of a rope. (Literary translation of the original
is available here.)
Once on a tiger's back, it is hard to alight. (An
annotation is available here.)
One cannot refuse to eat just because there is a chance of
being choked. (An annotation is available
here.)
One monk shoulders water by himself; two can still share the
labor among them. When it comes to three, they have to go thirsty.
(An annotation is available here.)
Only when all contribute their firewood can they build up a
strong fire. (An annotation is available
here.)
An overcrowded chicken farm produce fewer eggs. (An
annotation is available here.)
P
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Pick up a sesame seed but lose sight of a watermelon.
(An annotation is available here.)
Play a harp before a cow. (An English equivalent is
available here.)
Paper can't wrap up a fire. (An annotation is available
here.)
Q
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R
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Reshape one's foot to try to fit into a new shoe. (An
annotation is available here.)
Regular feet can't be affected by irregular shoes. (An
annotation is available here.)
S
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Shed no tears until seeing the coffin. (An annotation
is available here.)
A smile will gain you ten more years of life.
A sly rabbit will have three openings to its den. (An
annotation is available here.)
Some prefer carrot while others like cabbage. (An
annotation is available here.)
Steal a bell with one's ears covered. (An annotation is
available here.)
T
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Three humble shoemakers brainstorming will make a great
statesman. (A word for word translation of the original is
available here.)
There are always ears on the other side of the wall. (An
annotation is available here.)
There is no silver here: three hundred taels. (An
annotation is available here.)
A tiger never returns to his prey he did not finish off.
(An annotation is available here.)
U
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V
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Vicious as a tigeress can be, she never eats her own cubs.
(An annotation is available here.)
W
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Waiting for a rabbit to hit upon a tree and be killed in
order to catch it. (An annotation is available
here.)
We are not so much concerned if you are slow as when you come
to a halt.
A weasel comes to say "Happy New Year" to the chickens.
(An annotation is available here.)
When you are poor, neighbors close by will not come; once you
become rich, you'll be surprised by visits from (alleged) relatives
afar.
Without rice, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook.
(Annotation is available here)
X
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Y
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You can't catch a cub without going into the tiger's den.
(An annotation is available here.)
You think you lost your horse? Who knows, he may bring a whole
herd back to you someday. (Literary translation of the original
and its annotation is available here.)
You won't help shoots grow by pulling them up higher. (An
annotation is available here.)
You can't expect both ends of a sugar cane are as sweet.
(An annotation is available here.)
Your fingers can't be of the same length. (An annotation
is available here.)
Z
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Annotations and Connotations
- Wealth or Peace; Grievances or Safety
- With too much wealth, you'll always fear being robbed. Making
too many enemies will put you in danger wherever you go.
- Between a Superior and a Host.
- Let your superior think that you are the "quiet water" that
runs deep while seize the opportunity when you are invited to
publize yourself.
- Green Mountain and Firewood
- The proverb is often used in face of setbacks as a
consolation: unless the main force is lost, there is always a
chance of staging a come-back.
- Add Legs to Snake
- Do something that is totally unnecessary and spoil what you
already have done.Go back
- Ant and Dam
- If a small problem is overlooked, it could develop into a big
disaster as ant can multiple making tunnels in the dam to allow
water soak in and consequently bring it to a
collapse.Go back
- Book and Gold
- It is a motto adults use to encourage youngsters to study. If
you study hard, you'll have a good job and a chance to make good
money.Go back
- Dog and Mice
- Despite the fact that dogs do catch mice, people still believe
that is the business of cats'. Therefore, this proverb refers to
someone who is too inquisitive and cares about things that are
none of his business.Go back
- Donkey's Lips On Horse's Mouth
- It refers to something totally irrelavent. Go
back
- Different Dreams on the Same Bed
- It is a reality that even the closest people, husband and
wife, will dream different dreams. That means, people are never
alike in their minds. The connotation is that you got to be wary
of even the people you trust the most.Go back
- Fight Wolf with Flex Stalk
- Each party is fearful of the other: the wolf thought the stalk
could be a fatal weapon while the person fears the consequence of
his trick seen through by the wolf. Are you ever caught in a
situation like this?Go back
- Crane, Camel, and Flea
- A crane is too obvious when it stands among a flock of
chickens and looks very awkward. It is also true with a camel
amidst a flock of sheep and a flea when it stands on top of a
hairless head. They all carry a pejoritary tone: the thing that
outstands others is something awkward if not necessarily
bad.Back to "Crane" or Back to
"Flea"?
- Crows Are Universally Black
- It is a metaphorical statement of "Bad people are bad no
matter where you find them because human nature never
changes".Go back
- Ivory Expected in Dog's Mouth
- True, that is an impossibility. The connotation is you can not
expect people of evil intent to utter anything good. By the way,
in the Chinese culture, dogs are almost always negative in
allusions.Go back
- Vicious Tigeress Won't Hurt Cubs
- Those parents who hurt their children are worse than beasts of
prey.Go back
- A Fall Makes You Wiser
- People learn from their mistakes.Go back
- Lose Chicken and Bait
- Kind of like "Shoot Your Own Feet". Starting out to hurt
others but ending up in being hurt. Go back
- Flies Love Cracked Eggs
- Cracked eggs that yield odours are as vulnerable to flies as
problem children to gangs or bad company.Go back
- Flowing Water Never Stale
- It means that people got to renew their knowledge not to stay
behind. The English "Rolling stone gathers no moss" has a
different meaning.Go back
- Good Fortune or Bad Luck?
- Do not overjoy over good fortune and saddened over a bad luck.
There are always the unforeseeable turns for the better or
worse.Go back
- Frog and the Sky
- There is an argument between a bird who stopped to drank at a
well and a frog therein. They were arguing about how the sky
looked like. Regarding where they were, they each had a different
view. The frog's vision was of course very limited. Therefore,
this proverb refers to somebody who has a very narrow-minded and
insulated view of what they see or what they think.Go
back
- Mouth of a Dagger and Heart of Tofu
- It says of a person who is sharp mouthed but tender-hearted.
- Pierce Ears At Wedding
- It is a criticism of procrastination. Like a bride who waited
till the last munite to get things done that should have been done
earlier. It also has the connation that it might be too late to
wait till the last munite. Go back
- Hard to Dodge a Shot from Behind
- It is easier to guard against the obvious. Go
back
- Frog and the Sky
- There is an argument between a bird who stopped to drank at a
well and a frog therein. They were arguing about how the sky
looked like. Regarding where they were, they each had a different
view. The frog's vision was of course very limited. Therefore,
this proverb refers to somebody who has a very narrow-minded and
insulated view of what they see or what they think.Go
back
- Mouth of a Dagger and Heart of Tofu
- It says of a person who is sharp mouthed but tender-hearted.
- Pierce Ears At Wedding
- It is a criticism of procrastination. Like a bride who waited
till the last munite to get things done that should have been done
earlier. It also has the connation that it might be too late to
wait till the last munite. Go back
- An Inch of Gold for an Inch of Time
- Disregard the different use of unit words describing nouns in
different cultures. This proverb tells the truth that time is more
valuable than money. Money spent or lost can be earned; time lost
is lost for good. No money can buy it back. The motto is that we
got to make good use of our time.Go back
- Useless Jade and Uneducated Man
- It is an emphasis on the need of education.Go
back
- Hasty Dish of Carrot Unclean
- When hurry through a job it is impossible to attend to the
minute details.Go back
- Dismantle Bridge and Kill Donkey
- Isn't that ungrateful and mean? There are people who after
taking advantage of you turn their back to you. Back
to "bridge"Back to "butcher"
- Water vs Fire and Thirst
- In an emergency, regular help from afar can not be reached:
expedient measures in the case are very much
warrented.Go back
- Hard to Alight from Tiger's Back
- Once you take on a thorny task, you'll find it hard to get rid
of it.Go back
- Fast for Fear of Choking
- You can't refuse to do the thing you need to just because
there is a slight chance to fail.Go back
- More Dreams In Longer Night
- The longer we stay in a disadvantagous position, the more
risks we'll take.Go back
- Three Monks Go Thirsty
- It is a scenario where lack of individual initiative could
breed dependent upon each other so that the more people the lesser
things are done. Go back
- Contribute Firewood to Build Strong Fire
- Another way of saying "United and we can stand
strong."Go back
- Crowded Chicken Farm Fewer Eggs
- Scientifically, it may not be true. But the connotation of
this proverb is that when too many people try to do one thing, it
proves less efficient.Go back
- Sesame Seed vs Watermelon
- Concentrate on small matters to the expense of more important
ones.Go back
- Play Harp to Cow
- Similar to "Cast pearls to a swine."Go
back
- Paper Can't Wrap Fire
- How true: it will burn it self out as truth will eventually
reveals itself despite coverups.Go back
- Regular Feet vs Irregular Shoes
- Same as "If you have not done anything evil, you should not
worry too much": the good/regular always overwhelms the
bad/irregular though in real life it is not necessarily so.
Back to "If"or Back to
"regular"?
- Reshape Foot to Fit Shoe
- The logic should be the other way round. Yet, in life there
are people who try to sacrifice the big for the small, the
important for the trivial.Go back
- No Tears Before Seeing Coffin
- Will not give up an inevitably losing battle until the last
minute. It is a burlesque of the stubborness and stupidity of
people who would not stop until it is too late.Go
back
- Carrot or Cabbage
- "One man's meat is another's poison". People's preferences
differ.Go back
- A Rabbit Has Three Openings to Home
- To succeed you got to have several
alternatives.Go back
- Snake or Rope
- A word by word translation of the original is "Bitten by a
snake this year, he'll be scared of well ropes in the next
ten." In days when people had to draw water from wells
instead of getting it from the tab, ropes, which bear resemblance
in appearance to snakes, were a dispensible utility. The proverb
decries those who are discouraged by their first failure and are
afraid of trying again.Go back
- Shoemaker and Statesman
- The literary translation of the original is "Three smelly
leather shoemakers put together can be counted as a Zhuge
Liang", who was one of the greatest statesman as well as a
military strategist in ancient Chinese history.Go
back
- Ears on the Other Side of Wall
- Be wary of eavedropping anywhere anytimeGo
back
- Steal a Bell with Ears Covered
- A bell is supposed to be ringing when moved and alert the
owner. The theft here thought if he covered up his own ears, no
one esle in the world will hear it either. That is stupid. Sure.
This proverb is just to mock someone who takes it for granted that
if he thinks others do not know what he is doing and they would
surely do not know it.Go back
- Chicken and Monkey; One and Hundred
- To warn the many by punishing a few.Go back
- Ants Eat Bone
- A metaphor describing a situation where people trying an
overwhelmingly big task by doing bit by bit with persiverence.
Go back
- Looking for Ass on Ass's Back
- Haven't you had the experience of looking for your glasses
when they actually on your nose? It happens.Go
back
- Gun/Stone and the Foot
- Isn't it similar to "Shoot your gun at your own
foot"?Go back
- Mend Pen After Sheep Flee
- Some say it is too late. Some say, well, if you learn a
lesson, it is not necessarily late: no more sheep will flee. It is
better than if you leave the pen broken at all. Therefore people
use the proverb to either purpose.Go back
- No Wind, No Waves
- How about "There is no fire without smoke."? The
assumption here is that rumors may have some
grounds.Go back
- Best Strategem?
- The literary translation of the original is "Of the
thirty-six strategems, running away is the best." "The
Thirty-Six Strategems" are believed to have covered almost
all the military strategic thinking Sun Zi, another greatest
military strategist in ancient Chinese history, expounded in his
thirteen chapter momograp, which has been regarded as the bible of
the military in Chinese history and has now been seen very useful
in business in Asia as well.Go back
- No Silver but Three Hundred Taels?
- Sounds paradoxical? True. Once upon a time, there were a
couple, who got three hundred taels of silver, a big sum of
currency. Worried that their money would be stolen, they decided
to bury them in a jar behind their house. For fear that they might
forget where they hid them, they put up a sign saying "There is no
money here: three hundred taels". The result, of course, is only
too appearant. This proverb is to tease those who say or do things
blatantly self-contradictary and consequently become an object of
redicule.Go back
- Tiger Won't Come Back to His Left-Overs
- For fear that he may have exposed his trace, he will not take
the risk of being caught in making the same trip a second time. A
clever thief would not show up in the same spot soon again.
Go back
- Catch a Cub in Its Den
- Risky as it is, if you are afraid of taking chances, there is
no way you can succeed.Go back
- Wait for Rabbit to Die to Catch It
- What is the chance? You must act instead of waiting to get
things done.Go back
- No Rice, No Wife to Cook
- It may not be true to American housewives who seldom cook
rice. But rice is staple food in South China where the proverb may
have originated. Without the right material, no matter how good
you are, you may not accomplish the task.Go back
- Weasal Say Hi to Chickens
- Be wary of his malicious intentions.Go back
- One Horse Lost May Be a Herd of Them
Gained
- The story goes that an old man lost his horse. As he was
remorsing, the animal returned bringing at his heels a herd more.
It is thus regarded as a 'Blessing in
disguise".Go back
- Plucking Up a Crop to Help It Grow
- You have to let things go in its natural course. Being too
anxious to help an event to develop will result in the contrary to
your intent.Go back
- Firewood and Cup of Water
- It is useless to apply minor remedies to a major
problem.Go back
- The Ends of a Sugar Cane
- You have to balance it out: In order to get something, you
have to sacrifice something else.Go back
- Length of Ten Fingers
- That is true. And that is true with life: we can't expect
everything or everybody is perfect.Go back
Haiwang.Yuan@wku.edu,
http://www.wku.edu/~yuanh/proverb.html
Updated July 24, 1997
Compiled by Haiwang Yuan, Copyright
Reserved.
Used here by permission.