Chinese Proverbs & Quotes

"Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time."

"If you want happiness for an hour -- take a nap. If you want happiness for a day -- go fishing. If you want happiness for a month -- get married. If you want happiness for a year -- inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime -- help someone else."

"When the heart is at ease, the body is healthy."

"Man is the head of the family, woman the neck that turns the head."

"A single conversation across the table with a wise person is worth a month's study of books."

"To talk much and arrive nowhere is the same as climbing a tree to catch a fish."

"Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come."

"The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

"Pray to God, but keep rowing toward(s) the shore."

"He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever."

"He who is not satisfied with himself will not grow"

"If we do not change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed."

"Teachers open the door but you must walk through it yourself."

"What is told into the ear of a man is often heard a hundred miles away."

"To open a shop is easy, to keep it open is an art."

"The wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water moulds itself to the pitcher."

"To understand your parents' love bear your own children."

"I hear and I forget, I see and I remember. I do and I understand."

"Do not use a hatchet to remove a fly from your friend's forehead."

"Who is not satisfied with himself will grow; who is not sure of his own correctness will learn many things."

"Insanity is doing the same thing in the same way and expecting a different outcome."

"Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still."

"To cultivate trees, you need 10 years. To cultivate people, you need 100 years."

"There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same."

"Be not disturbed at being misunderstood; be disturbed rather at not being understanding."

"The fire you kindle for your enemy often burns yourself more than him."

"The great question is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with failure."

"Govern a family as you would cook a small fish -- very gently."

"To attract good fortune, spend a new coin on an old friend, share an old pleasure with a new friend, and lift up the heart of a true friend by writing his name on the wings of a dragon."

"The woman who tells her age is either too young to have anything to lose or too old to have anything to gain."