Books and other Resources about Asian Proverbs

>Cultural proverbs are one of the primary ways that people used to pass down knowledge from one generation to the next.  This collection includes many well known Asian proverbs from China, Korea, and Japan.

Famous Asian Proverbs:

The Journey of a Thousand Miles begins with a single step.

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.

A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives flowers.

A book holds a house of gold.

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.

A book tightly shut is but a block of paper.

A child’s life is like a piece of paper on which every person leaves a mark.

A diamond with a flaw is worth more than a pebble without imperfections.

A filthy mouth will not utter decent language.

A fool judges people by the presents they give him.

A gem is not polished without rubbing, nor a man perfected without trials.

A nation’s treasure is in its scholars.

A rat who gnaws at a cat’s tail invites destruction.

Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.

Be the first to the field and the last to the couch.

Deep doubts, deep wisdom; small doubts, little wisdom.

Dig the well before you are thirsty.

Do good, reap good; do evil, reap evil.

Do not employ handsome servants.

Do not fear going forward slowly; fear only to stand still.

Do not remove a fly from your friend’s forehead with a hatchet.

Don’t open a shop unless you like to smile.

Each generation will reap what the former generation has sown.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

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

He who is drowned is not troubled by the rain.

He who strikes the first blow admits he’s lost the argument.

If heaven made him, earth can find some use for him.

If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.

If you bow at all, bow low.

If you don’t want anyone to know, don’t do it.

Keep your broken arm inside your sleeve.

Not until just before dawn do people sleep best; not until people get old do they become wise.

Raise your sail one foot and you get ten feet of wind.

Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself.

The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.

The palest ink is better than the best memory.

To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.

When you drink the water, remember the spring.

When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.

A kitchen knife cannot carve its own handle.

A nobleman’s calf does not know how a butcher kills.

Carve the peg by looking at the hole.

Cast no dirt into the well that gives you water.

Cast not pearls to swine.

Catch not at the shadow, and lose the substance.

Cross even a stone bridge after you’ve tested it.

Even a fish wouldn’t get into trouble if it kept its mouth shut.

Even children of the same mother look different.

If there is a rich man in the area three villages are ruined.

If you starve for three days, there is no thought that does not invade your imagination.

Man’s affairs are evaluated only after his coffin is closed.

Man’s extremity, God’s opportunity.

Put off for one day and ten days will pass.

The bad plowman quarrels with his ox.

The deeper the waters are, the more still they run.

Where there are no tigers, a wildcat is very self-important.

Words have no wings but they can fly a thousand miles.

You will hate a beautiful song if you sing it often.

Art is the illusion of spontaneity.

Beginning is easy – Continuing is hard.

Don’t stay long when the husband is not at home.

Fall down seven times, get up eight.

Gossip about a person and his shadow will appear.

If you believe everything you read, better not read.

In a quarrel, the higher voiced person will win.

Never rely on the glory of the morning nor the smiles of your mother-in-law.

One kind word can warm three winter months.

The reverse side also has a reverse side.

When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.