Funny Chinese Proverbs and Ancient Chinese Proverbs
- You will not find ivory in a dog’s mouth.
- You can plan a picnic, but you can’t control the weather.
- Without rice, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook.
- When eating bamboo shoots, remember the man who planted them.
- To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.
- Though your horse has wandered away, he may someday bring a whole herd back to you.
- The other ducks do not like the loudest duck.
- Once you climb up onto a tiger’s back, it is hard to get down.
- Listen to all; pluck a feather from every passing goose; but follow no one absolutely.
- Kill the chicken BEFORE it eats your bait grain.
- If you steal a bell, keep your ears covered.
- If you lift a stone, take care that you do not drop it on your foot.
- Govern a family as you would cook a small fish.
- Flies do not visit the egg unless it is cracked.
- Falling into a ditch makes you wiser.
- Even a frog in a well shaft can see the sky.
- Do not look for a woman you think you can live with. Look for a woman you can’t live without.
- Do not accept your dog’s opinion that you are a wonderful person.
- Distant waters do not put out the fires that are nearby.
- As vicious as a tigress is, she never eats her own cubs.
- All crows are equally black.
- Add legs to the snake only after you have finished drawing it.
- A weasel comes to say “Happy New Year” to the chickens.
- A sly rabbit will have TWO openings to his den.
- A man who stands on a hill with his mouth open will wait a long time before a roast duck drops in.
- A dog will not forsake his master merely because his master becomes poor
many proverbs are wrongly translated .
Govern a family as you would cook a small fish.
The saying comes from Laozi , and it’s ” govern a country / nation is liking cooking a small fish” , which means you don’t turn it all the time, leave it them and it will be done. A lot of economic and political liberalism in ancient China.
“If you steal a bell, keep your ears covered.” The original saying doesn’t suggest ” if … then” condition. It only says a theft trying to cover up his ears when he was stealing a ball , thinking that no one would know it.
“Even a frog in a well shaft can see the sky.” It doesn’t suggest that a frog can see the sky. It implies that the world is so small for a frog in a well shaft.
“A man who stands on a hill with his mouth open will wait a long time before a roast duck drops in.” I think you’re talking about another proverb, 守株待兔. A rabbit run so fast to crash into a tree and a hunter got his free lunch. He decided not to work again, and stood next to a tree every day to wait for another unlucky rabbit.
there’re many more mistakes in this post. Just to name a few.