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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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)
