Proverbs |
Annotation
And Connotations |
- Fail
to steal a chicken, which instead ate up your bait.
- (Chinese
original: 偷鸡不成反蚀一把米。Chinese Pinyin: Tou1 ji1 bu4cheng2 fan3 shi1 yi1ba3
mi3.)
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- Kind
of like "Shoot Your Own Feet". Starting out to hurt others but ending
up in being hurt.
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- A
fall into a ditch, a gain in your wit.
- (Chinese
original: 吃一堑长一智。Chinese Pinyin: Chi1 yi2 qian4 zhang3 yi2 zhi4.)
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- People
learn from their mistakes.
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- Fallen
leaves return to the root.
- (Chinese
original: 落叶归根。Chinese Pinyin: Luo4ye4 gui1 gen4.)
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- Wherever
they are, Chinese would like to return to their motherland in their
senior ages.
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- Fearing
laws makes one happy every day; withholding truth from heaven worries
one all the time.
- (Chinese
original: 惧法朝朝乐 欺天日日忧。Chinese Pinyin: Ju4 fa3 tian1 tian1 le4, qi1 tian1
ri4 ri4 you1.)
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- A
feet can be shorter while an inch can be longer.
- (Chinese
original: 尺短寸长。Chinese Pinyin: Chi3 duan3 cun4 chang2.)
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- Compared
with something longer, a feet may be shorter; compared with something
shorter, an inch seems longer. Things are relative: everything has its
merits and demerits.
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- Fifty
steps laugh at a hundred steps.
- (Chinese
original: 五十步笑百步。Chinese Pinyin: Wu3 shi2 bu4 xiao4 yi1 bai3 bu4.)
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Don't
gloat over others' mistakes while you are making the same ones in a different
fasion. |
- A
fierce dog ruins a liquor store business.
- (Chinese
original: 狗猛酒酸。Chinese Pinyin: Gou3 meng3 jiu3 suan1.)
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A once
successful liquor store suddenly sees its business faltering: customers
stop coming. Finally the owner realizes that it was his fierce dog that
has scared them away. A bad company may drive other friends away. Another
dog-related proverb that does injustice to the animal.
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- Fight
poison with poison.
- (Chinese
original: 以毒攻毒。Chinese Pinyin: Yi3 du2 gong1 du2.)
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- Use the
opponent's tactics to attack the opponent. Similar to "Fight fire
with fire."
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- Fighting
a wolf with a flex stalk - either side is afraid of the other.
- (Chinese
original: 麻秆打狼-两头怕。Chinese Pinyin: Ma2gan3 da3 lang2 - liang3tou2 pa4.)
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- Each
party is fearful of the other: the wolf thought the stalk could be a
fatal weapon while the person fears the consequence of his trick seen
through by the wolf. Are you ever caught in a situation like this?
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- Fill
in the eyes to a painted dragon.
- (Chinese
original: 画龙点睛。Chinese Pinyin: Hua4 long2 dian3 jing1.)
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It is
said that a famous Chinese painter painted four dragons without eyes.
When asked, he explained that with eyes they would fly away. Incredulous,
his friends insisted on his filling in the eyes. Sure enough, as soon
as the painter added eyes to two of the dragons, they started flying
away. This proverb is most often used to describe a situation where
one who uses succinct remarks to summarize the gist of an article or
a speech.
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A
filled bottle feels no content; a half-filled bottle can't stand.
(see
A bottle half filled (with vinegar) tends to rock.
)
(Chinese
original: 一瓶子不满,半瓶子晃。Chinese Pinyin: Yi4 ping2zi bu4 man3, ban4 ping2zi
huang4.) |
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- Fish
a needle in the sea.
- (Chinese
original: 大海捞针。Chinese Pinyin: Da4 hai3 lao2 zhen1.)
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- Probably
you have already thought of the English counterpart: looking for a "needle
in a haystack."
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- Fish
cannot survive in absolutely clear water.
- (Chinese
original: 水至清则无鱼。Chinese Pinyin: Shui3 zhi4 qing1 ze2 wu2 yu2.)
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One
should not demand absolute purity or perfectness. |
- Fish
for the moon in the water.
- (Chinese
original: 水中捞月。Chinese Pinyin: Shui3 zhong1 lao1 yue4.)
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- It is
a useless attempt.
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- Fish
in muddled water.
- (Chinese
original: 混水摸鱼。Chinese Pinyin: Hun2 shui3 mo1 yu2.)
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- Take
the advantage of a confused situation to make personal gains.
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- A
flea on the top of a bald head - it is only too apparent.
- (Chinese
original: 秃子头上的虱子 - 明摆着的事。Chinese Pinyin: Tu1zi tou2shang de shi1zi
- ming2 bai3 zhe de shi4.)
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- A crane
is too obvious when it stands among a flock of chickens and looks very
awkward. It is also true with a camel amidst a flock of sheep and a
flea when it stands on top of a hairless head. They all carry a pejorative
tone: the thing that out stands others is something awkward if not necessarily
bad.
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- Flies
never infest an egg without cracks.
- (Chinese
original: 苍蝇不叮无缝蛋。Chinese Pinyin: Cang1ying2 bu4 ding1 wu2 feng4 dan4.)
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- Cracked
eggs that yield odors are as vulnerable to flies as problem children
to gangs or bad company.
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- A
flower you plant may not necessarily bloom; but the seed of a tree you
happen to drop may grow into a forest.
- (Chinese
original: 有意栽花花不发,无意插柳柳成荫。Chinese Pinyin: You3 yi4 zai1 hua1 hua1 bu4
kai1, wu2 yi4 cha1 liu3 liu3 cheng2 yin1.)
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- This
irony happens often in real life. For instance, one's spouse may not
be the sweetheart one used to spent so much time and energy to woo.
Some discoveries and inventions happen in the same manner: Coca Cola
is for one.
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- Flowers
look different in different eyes.
- (Chinese
original: 各花入各眼。Chinese Pinyin: Ge4 hua1 ru4 ge4 yan3.)
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- Beauty
is in the eye of the beholder.
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- Flowing
water never goes bad; door hubs never gather termites.
- (Chinese
original: 流水不腐,户枢不蠹。Chinese Pinyin: Liu2shui3 bu4 fu3, hu4shu1 bu2 du4.)
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- It means
that people got to renew their knowledge not to stay behind. The English
"Rolling stone gathers no moss" has a different meaning.
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- A
flying moth throws itself into a fire.
- (Chinese
original: 飞蛾投火。Chinese Pinyin: Fei1 e2 tou2 huo3.)
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- To say
one is a flying moth that throws itself into a fire is to say that he
is looking for his own demise.
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- The
following situations can test a genuine friendship from a fake one:
life and death, poverty and wealth, and noble and humble family backgrounds..
- (Chinese
original: 一死一生,乃知交情;一贫一富,乃知交态;一贵一贱,交情乃见。Chinese Pinyin: Yi1 sheng1 yi1
si3, nai3 zhi1 jiao1 qing2; yi1 pin2 yi1 fu4, nai3 zhi1 jiao1 tai4;
yi1 gui4 yi1 jian4, jiao1 qing2 nai3 jian4.)
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- "The
Foolish Old Man" Removes a Mountain.
- (Chinese
original: 愚公移山。Chinese Pinyin: Yu2gong1 yi2 shan1.)
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- The legend
goes that an old man was leading his family in picking away at a mountain
in front of his house. When passers-by thinking of him as foolish asked
how could he accomplished this mission impossible, the "Foolish
Old Man" replied that if his family and their posterity work ceaselessly
generation after generation, the mountain would eventually be removed.
For, he said, "The mountain will not grow. With each inch removed,
it becomes an inch lesser." This proverb was once quoted by Mao
Tse-tung to encourage the Chinese to fight the formidable Japanese invaders
during WWII. The moral is, in dealing with a seemingly very difficult
task, keep on working at it without fear, and you will eventually succeed.
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- Force
tells weak from strong for a moment; truth tells right from wrong all
the time.
- (Chinese
original: 一时强弱在于力,万古胜负在于理。Chinese Pinyin: Yi4shi2 qiang2 ruo4 zai4yu2
li4, wan4gu3 sheng4 fu4 zai4yu2 li3.)
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- Forget
the fishing gear as soon as the fish is caught.
- (Chinese
original: 得鱼忘筌。Chinese Pinyin: De2 yu2 wang4 quan2.)
(An annotation is available here.)
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- Forget
the means by which the end is attained.
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- A
fox borrows the tiger's might.
- (Chinese
original: 狐假虎威。Chinese Pinyin: Hu3 jia3 hu3 wei1.)
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- A fox
caught by a tiger struck an idea of survival. He led the tiger to parade
among the other animals, who of course scampered for life as they came.
The fox, however, made the tiger believe that the animals feared the
fox instead of him. As a result, the tiger dared not eat the fox any
more. The proverb says of a bully borrowing a bigger bully's might to
intimidate others.
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- Foxes
grieve over the death of rabbits.
- (Chinese
original: 兔死狐悲。Chinese Pinyin: Tu4 si3 hu2 bei1.)
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- The proverb
is used derogatorily to refer to the forlornness that bad people feel
upon learning the misfortune of their like.
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- A
fragrant bloom is not necessarily a beautiful flower; an orator may
not be a crackerjack.
- (Chinese
original: 花香不一定美丽,能说不一定会做。Chinese Pinyin: Hua1 xiang1 bu4 yi2ding4 mei3li4,
neng2 shuo1 bu4 yi2ding4 hui4 zuo4.)
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Action
is better than oration. |
- Fragments
of fox fur, sewn together, will make a robe.
- (Chinese
original: 集腋成裘。Chinese Pinyin: Ji2 ye4 cheng2 qiu2.)
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- "Many
a little makes a mickle."
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- A
friend made is a road paved; an enemy created is a wall built.
- (Chinese
original: 交个朋友多条路,树个敌人多堵墙。Chinese Pinyin: Jiao1 ge4 peng2you3 duo1 tiao2
lu4, shu4 ge4 di2ren2 duo1 du3 qiang2.)
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- How true:
friends help while people you offend may turn out to be your liability.
We should make more friends than enemies.
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- A
frog in a well shaft
- (Chinese
original: 井底之蛙。Chinese Pinyin: Jing3 di2 zhi1 wa1.)
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- There
is an argument between a bird who stopped to drank at a well and a frog
therein. They were arguing about how the sky looked like. Regarding
where they were, they each had a different view. The frog's vision was
of course very limited. Therefore, this proverb refers to somebody who
has a very narrow-minded and insulated view of what they see or what
they think.
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- Fruits
of the same tree have different tastes; children of the same mother
have various qualities.
- (Chinese
original: 一树之果,有酸有甜;一母之子,有愚有贤。Chinese Pinyin: Yi2 shu4 zhi1 guo3 you3
suan1 you3 tian2, yi1 mu3 zhi1 zi3 you3 yu2 you3 xian2.)
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