Chinese Proverbs and Popular Sayings. Larry Herzberg
is] no end of roads to travel.
(It is impossible for anyone to ever know all there is to know.)
Dú bú jìn de shū, zǒu bù wán de lù.
读不尽的书，走不完的路。
To have half-knowledge of ten things is not as good as thorough knowledge of just one.
(Better to master one thing than try to be a “Jack of all trades, master of none.”)
Shí shì bàn tōng bùrú yí shì jīngtōng.
十事半通不如一事精通。
Learning has no boundaries.
Xué wú zhǐ jìng.
学无止境。—Confucius
Learning is like rowing a boat against the current; if you don’t advance, you’ll regress.
Nì shuǐ xíng zhōu, bú jìn zé tuì.
逆水行舟，不进则退。
Familiarity can engender skill.
(Practice makes perfect.)
Shú néng shēng qiǎo.
熟能生巧。
“A LITTLE LEARNING IS A DANGEROUS THING”
Better to go without books than to believe everything they say.
(Don’t believe everything you read.)
Jìn xìn shū bù rú wú shū.
尽信书不如无书。
Learning without thinking is ignorance; thinking without learning (study) is dangerous.
Xué ér bùsī zé wǎng, sī ér bù xué zé dài.
学而不思则罔，思而不学则殆。
If you know [something], to recognize that you know it; and if you don’t know [something], to realize that you don’t know it—that is [true] knowledge.
Zhī zhī wéi zhī zhī bù zhī wéi bù zhī shì zhī yě.
知之为知之不知为不知是知也。—Confucius
[Don’t be like] a frog at the bottom of a well.
(This proverb is based on an ancient fable of a frog that lived at the bottom of a well. He thought that the well was the entire world, until one day a sea turtle fell in and informed him of a much larger world outside the narrow confines of that well. The Chinese, as well as the Japanese, use this fable to describe people with a provincial, narrow-minded view of things due to ignorance.)
Jǐng dǐ zhī wā.
井底之蛙。
TRUE KNOWLEDGE
One can know the world without going outside. One can see the Way of Heaven without looking out the window.
Bù chū hù, zhī tiānxià; búkuì yǒu, jiàn tiān dào.
不出户，知天下；不窥牖， 见天道。—Lao Zi
2 Patience and Perseverance
Traditional societies with long histories perhaps know the value of patience better than societies with much shorter histories. They understand that it often takes a long time to bring about the changes that you desire. The first saying below derives from the fact that in ancient China, except for the upper class, the majority of people often didn’t have enough to eat. To become fat in traditional China, and indeed in almost every traditional society in the world, was a sign that you were prosperous enough to have an abundance of food. So being “fat” was a good thing!
The fourth proverb below refers to an ancient story about an old farmer who lived on one side of a huge mountain but whose fields were on the other side. Every morning, the old man and his sons had to go around the mountain to cultivate their crops. One day, the old man convinced his sons to start removing the mountain with their shovels. The man’s neighbors naturally thought that the old man was crazy for having such a foolish notion and told him so. The old man replied that although the mountain could not be “moved” away in his lifetime or even that of his sons and grandsons, over time his family would eliminate this obstacle that made their lives difficult, if only they persevered. This realization of the need to be patient in achieving one’s goals is not unknown outside China. Witness the expressions “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and “Good things take time.” But unlike in China, in the United States the focus is on achieving quick results, such as “learning Chinese in ten minutes a day” or wanting things to be “done yesterday.” Americans sound like the farmer who wanted to help his crops grow faster by pulling on their stalks, which only ends up killing the plant. Older societies like China caution against such unreasonable expectations.
A fat person didn’t get fat with just one mouthful.
(Rome wasn’t built in a day.)
Pàngzi búshì yìkǒu chīde.
胖子不是一口吃的。
Food must be eaten bite by bite; a road must be walked step by step.
(Things must be accomplished one step at a time and cannot be rushed.)
Fàn yào yìkǒu yìkǒu de chī, lù děi yíbù yíbù de zǒu.
饭要一口一口地吃，路得一步一步地走。
One who is burning with impatience can never eat hot porridge.
(Patience is necessary to accomplish anything, even when it comes to waiting for your rice gruel to be heated.)
Xīn jí chībùdé rè zhōu.
心急吃不得热粥。
The foolish old man moved the mountain.
(Anything can be done if you work long and hard enough at it.)
Yú gōng yí shān.
愚公移山。
With enough work, an iron rod can be ground into a needle.
(Almost anything can be achieved if you put enough effort into it.)
Zhǐyào gōngfu shēn, tiě chǔ móchéng zhēn.
只要功夫深，铁杵磨成针。
Good things are produced only through much grinding.
(Nothing good can be accomplished without a lot of work and many setbacks.)
Hǎo shì duō mó.
好事多磨。
Many little drops of water can turn into a [mighty] river.
(Giant oaks from tiny acorns grow.)
Juānjuān zhī dī huaì chéng jiānghé.
涓涓之滴汇成江河。
A thousand-mile journey starts under your feet.
(The longest journey begins with a single step.)
Qiān lǐ zhī lù shǐ yú zú xià.
千里之路始于足下。—Lao Zi
Don’t fear going slow [making slow progress]; just fear standing still.
Búpà màn, jiù pà zhàn.
不怕慢，就怕站。