中国谚语翻译 Popular chinese expressions
谚语/直译（Transliterated and/or Literal Translation）/意译（Figurativetranslation）
1. 天下無不散之筵席/ There is no never ending banquet under the sun./ All
good things must come to an end.
or The best of friends must part.
2. 五十步笑百步/ The (soldier who retreated ) 50 paces jeered at the one
who (retreated) 100 paces./ The pot calls the kettle black.
3. 當局者迷/ The participant's perspective are clouded while the
bystanders' views are clear./ You can't see the forest for the trees ,but
onlookers see the whole game.
4. 塞翁失馬 / The squire at the frontier lost his horse. (The horse
eventually came back bringing some other horses with it.)/
This expression has its origin in a Chinese fable. See e.g. (From the
Chinavista website)
Chinese Fable#6 Blessing or Bane
Certain bad luck is actually \"a blessing in disguise.\"
5. 各花入各眼/ Different flowers look good to
different people/ Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
6.. 禍不單行/ Good luck seldom comes in pairs but bad things never walk
(occur) alone./ Misery loves company.
7. 以毒攻毒/ Fight poison with poison/ Fight fire with fire.
8. 花開堪折直需折 / Pick the flower when it is ready to be picked . /
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.
9. 歲月不留人 / Age and time do not wait for people./ Time and tide waits
for no man.
10. 家家有一本難念的經/ Each family has its own difficult scripture (or
sutra) to recite./ Each family has its own kind of hell.
11. 虎父虎子/ Tiger father begets tiger son/ A chip off the old block.
12. 人算不如天算 / Man's schemes are inferior to those made by heaven/ Man
proposes and god disposes.
13. 有錢能使鬼推磨 / If you have money you can make the ghosts and devils
turn your grind stone./ Money makes the world go around.
Or: Money talks.
14. 好事多磨 / Good (happenings, results, achievements etc..) must go
through many trials and tribulations/ The course of true love never runs
smooth.
15. 盜亦有道 / Transliteration: (Even) Theives have \"their (own) way/code
of behaviour\" (Tao) /The \"their way \" (Way=Tao) can be interpreted in
different ways,
the most general being \"Even thieves have their principles.\"
Another interpretation is :\"even the bad guys have a conscience\".
So, could this also mean \"There is honour amongst thieve\" ?. Well, a
recent \"Time essay\" in Time's magazine seems to imply it does.
Time Essay, by James Poniewozik. Page 64. Time magazine, Canadian Edition.
June 24,2002.
\"They held up the myths of honor among thieves-we don't sell drugs, we
don't kill civilians....\"
16. 大丈夫能屈能伸 / A great (or successful) man can bend and stretch./ A
man must learn to sail in all winds.
17. 不入虎穴,焉得虎子 / If you don't go into the cave of the tiger, how
are you going to get its cub ?/ Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
18. 又要馬兒好,又要馬兒不食草 / You want you horse to look good but you
also want it not to have to eat grass./ Want to have your cake and eat it
too.(Implying: You cannot have your cake and eat it too.)
19. 無風不起浪 / There is no wave without wind./ There is no smoke without
fire.
20. 入鄉隨俗 / Follow the local custom when you go to a foreign place./ In
Rome do as the Romans do.
21. 物以類聚 / Things of the same characteristics congregate together./
Birds of a feather flocks together.
Or: Like attracts
22. . 醉翁之意不在酒 / The drunken gentleman's desire is not about the
wine./ Kissing the baby for the nurse (or nanny).
23. 牛不飲水,不能按牛頭低 / You cannot push a cow's head down unless it is
drinking water by it's own will./ You can lead a horse to water, but you
can't make him drink.
24. 驕兵必敗 / The arrogant (or over-confident) army will lose the battle
for sure./ Pride goes before a fall.
25. 一箭雙雕 / Shoot two birds (geese , wild foul, whatever) with one
single arrow./ Kill two birds with one stone.
26. 本性難移 / It's is impossible to change your basic characteristics./ A
leopard cannot change its spots.
Or: Old habits die hard.
27. 三個和尚擔水無粥食 / 3 monks fetching water resulted in no rice gruel
(to eat.)/ Too many cooks spoil the broth.
28. 一將功成萬骨枯 / Tens of thousands of bones will become ashes when one
general achieves his fame./ What thousands must die so that Caesar may
become great.
28. 一刻被蚊咬終日怕蚊叮 / Once bitten by a mosquito, you worry about
mosquitoes all day. /
(Another version)
Once bitten by a snake, you are even frightened by a rope that resembles a
snake. Once bitten, twice shy.
29. 金玉其外, 敗絮其中/ Golden coloured on the outside, but rotten inside.
(This is from a fable ,\"What the tangerine hawker said\". The golden colour
refers to the skin
of the tangerine.) / All that glitters is not gold and
beware of the skeleton in the closet.
30. 欲速則不達 / If you are in a hurry you will never get there./ More
haste, less speed.
31. 打鐵趁熱 / Strike while the iron is hot./ ditto
32. 狡兔有三窟/ The crafty rabbit has three different entrances to it's
lair/ Do not put all your eggs in one basket.
33. 老婆是別人的靚 / Your neigbour's wife looks prettier than your own./
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
34. 女人心海底針 / A woman's heart is like a needle in the bottom of the
ocean. A woman's heart is as deep as the ocean . (from the movie \"Titanic\")
35. 以攻為守 / Use attack as the tactic of defense./ The best defense is
an offense.
36. 英雄所見略同 / The views (opinions) of heroes are roughly the same./
Great minds think alike.
37. 以身作則 / Set yourself as the standard/ Example is better than
precept.
38. 婚姻是戀愛的墳墓 / Matrimony is the grave of romance. /Marriage is the
death of romance.
39. 將軍難免陣上亡 / It is not unusual for a general to meet his death in
battle. There is the second line of a couplet. The first line says: A
hunting dog will eventually lost its life on the mountain. / Those who
lived by the sword died by the sword.
39b 上得山多終遇虎/ When you go up to the mountain too often, you will
eventually encounter the tiger. / The fish which nibbles at every bait
will be caught.
40. 玉不琢不成器,人不學不成才 / Jade (or precious stones) must be carved
and polished before it becomes an ornament, man must be educated before he
can achieve great things.
41. 童言無欺 / A child's words have no guile./ Similar to: \"from the
mouths of babes.\"
42. 有麝自然香 / When you have musk, you will automatically have >fragrance. /Good stuff need not be advertised, they advertise themselves.
Good wine needs no bush
43. 夜長夢多 / Lots of dreams can occur over a long night. /The longer you
wait, the more unexpected developments may occur.
44. 遠水不能救近火 / You cannot fight a fire with water from far
away. /Urgent local problems cannot be solved by distant .resources.
45. 狗口不出象牙 / Elephant tusks cannot grow out of a dog's mouth./ Nice
things (words) won't come from a bad source.
46. 紙包不著火 / Paper cannot wrap up a fire./ You cannot cover up a
scandal easily.
As pointed out by Sparkler this is similar to the English proverb
of \"Murder will out.\"
Or : Truth will out.
47. 天下烏鴉一樣黑 / All crows are of the same colour (black) under the
sky./ Crime; corruption; graft; favouritism; nepotism etc..is the same
everywhere.
48 為人不作虧心事,夜半敲門也不驚. / If you have a clear conscience,
you won't worry about a knock on your door at night. /\"do right and fear
no man\"
Source : C-E language forum.
(See Link in the Chinese page)
Also similar to the English Proverb
A quiet conscience sleeps in thunder.
49. 樹大有枯枝,族大有乞兒 / Big trees have rotten branches and large clans
have beggars. / There are always some dead wood within a large
organization.
There is a black sheep in every fold
50a.猛虎不及地頭虫/ The fierce tiger is inferior to the local worm./ A
superior force in a foreign and unfamiliar territory is inferior to a
weaker but local force.
50b 虎落平陽被犬欺./ When the tiger comes down from the mountain to the
plains, it is bullied by the dogs / When you are out of your element, your
power (or influence) is greatly diminished.
This is similar to the English phrase \" Like a fish out of water \"
50c. 龍游淺\水被蝦戲./ In shallow waters, shrimps make fool of
dragons. /similar to 50 b above.
51.趕狗入窮巷/ Don't chase a dog into a blind ally./ ergo, it will have no
choice but to make a desperate stand and attack you.
52a.樹大召風/ Big trees attract strong wind.(see 52b) /see #52b below
52b.人怕名﹐豬怕壯/ Men should worry about fame just as pigs about being
fat. /When you are big and/or famous you are more of a target for attack,
jealousy etc.. ( Fat pigs , you guessed it, are
headed for the dinning table.)
53. 忠言逆耳, 良藥苦口./ Honest opinions (suggestions, criticisms) go
against your ear while good medicine tastes bitter./ \"What hurts us
instructs us.\"
54. 巧婦難為無米灶./ Even the most resourceful housewife cannot create
miracles from a riceless pantry./ When you are poor and have no food, even
the craftiest
housewife cannot produce a meal.
55.井底蛙之見 /The view of a frog residing at the bottom of a well.
This expression is also originated from a Chinese fable. See e.g.( from
the Chinavista website)
Chinese Fable#2: Frog at the bottom of a shallow well
Similar but not identical to the phrase \"Tunnel vision.\"
In the \"frog\" case, the frog has a very limited knowledge of what the
outside world is like, but think that it knows everything there is to
know.
In the case of \"tunnel vision\", we have some one whose view is \"narrow and
limited\". So although the two are not exactly identical, there are ;some
common aspects between them.
56.十隻手指各有長短./ Ten fingers. all of different lengths. /There are
always good and bad
(attributes, characteristics etc..)
within a group (of things, people, whatever..).
57 書中自有顏如玉,書中自有黃金屋/In textbooks you will find girls with
complexions like jade and houses made of gold./ Through studying you will
gain success and fortunes will follow.
58. 種瓜得瓜, 種豆得豆/ If you plant melons , you get melons; if you plant
beans, you get beans./ you reap what you sow.
59. 冰生于水已寒於水,青出于?#123;已勝於?#123;/ Indigo is derived from blue
but is more pleasing than blue; ice is formed out of water but is colder
than water /The master is surpassed by the apprentice.
60a. 三個臭皮丈,一個諸葛亮/ Three shoemakers equal to one Kuon Ming /Kuon
Ming is the legendary strategist in the Chinese historic period known as \"
The Three Kingdoms \" period. This proverbs says that 3 ordinary people
putting their heads together can come up with good ideas.(see 60b)
60b. 一人計短,二人計長./ Literally: One person's plans(or schemes) are
short(i.e. ineffective)but those made by two people are long (i.e. much
better, or more effective.) /Similar to: Two heads are better than one.
61 覆水難收 /Water thrown out is hard to put back into the
container. /What is done cannot be undone.
62. 一言(已)出,駟馬難追. /Once a word leaves your mouth, you cannot chase
it back even with a \"chariot drawn by 4 horses.\" /You cannot take back
what you have said.
Similar to : A word spoken is past recalling.
Or: A slip of tongue cannot be recalled.
Or: A word once let go cannot be recalled.
63. 病從口入,禍從口出 /Sickness goes in through the mouth and trouble
comes out of the mouth. /physical illness is usually caused by something
you eat or inhale but trouble is usually caused by what you say.( Careless
talk leads to trouble.)
64. 樹高千丈﹐落葉巋根 /Even for a tree of 10000 feet, it's leaves return
to the root when they fall. /Many older people, no matter how far they
roam, or how successful they become, want to go back to their homeland to
pass their remaining years.
65 路遙知馬力﹐日久見人心/ When there is a lot of distance to cover, ;
you'll know how good your horse is.The heart of others will be revealed
over a long period of time. /A hard task separates the weak from the
strong and time will tell the truthful from the guile.
66. 有心栽花花不長, 無心插柳柳成蔭 / The flower that you spent time to
care for does not grow while the willow that your accidentally planted
flourishes and gives shade.
A nice one:
\"A watched flower never blooms, while a carelessly planted willow grows
into shade. \" As seen on the CE Forum /
Sometimes what we wanted to spend time on developing does not work out
well, but the project we have unintentionally started, and did not pay
much attention to, flourishes and bears fruit.
67。路是人踏出來的 / Road is made by people walking on the ground . /(The
solution to something) or (the road to success) etc.. is made by you
walking through places where there were no roads before.
68 解鈴還須繫鈴人/ The proper person to remove the bell should be the one
who who originally tied it on./ The proper person to unravel a
misunderstanding (or a mistake etc..) is the one who committed such an
error to start with.
69.留得青山在﹐不怕無柒燒/ If you managed to save the green mountain, you
won't worry about having no fire wood to burn. /(i) If you don't kill the
golden goose, you will still get a golden egg everyday.
(ii) He who fights and run away, may live to fight another day.
70.天無絕人之路/ The sky (or heaven) (meaning whatever supreme being that
oversees us) does not make dead end streets for people./ When god closes
one door he/she/it opens another.
71. 學如逆水行舟,不進則退./ Studying is like rowing against the current,
if you are not moving forward, you are moving backward. /meaning clear
enough. No annotation needed.
72. 三人行必有我師焉 /3 people walking abreast, my teacher must be amongst
them. (By Confucius) /Although usually quoted in its short form, the
actual text, from Confucius's Analects says \" 3 people walking abreast. My
teacher must be amongst them. Choose the one with good character and learn
form him. Observe the one with the bad character and avoid being like him.
Who is the third person in the party ? You may ask. Yourself, of course !
73.水能載舟,水能覆舟. /Water can float a boat; it can also overturn a
boat /Something that can help you to success usually carries with it great
risks.
74. 少壯不老力,老大徒悲傷./ If you do not work hard; you will be sorry
when you grow old. /Meaning clear enough. However, one must consider the
idea of \"working hard \" as more of a generic term for \" not wasting your
time away \". In life, it's not just a matter of working hard that counts,
sometimes working \" smart \" is just as, if not more, important.
75. 貪字變貧字 / The word greed becomes the word poor. /In Chinese, the
word greed ( 貪 ) and the word poor (貧) look almost the same. This
essentially says that greed leads to poverty. This is similar to the
saying \" Grab all , lose all .\"
76. 患難見真情 /True nature (or real commitment) is revealed in time of
difficulty./ Similar to \" A friend in need is a friend indeed. \"
77. 鐵柱磨成針 / An iron rod can be ground down to become a needle/
Persistence pays off. Similar to \" Little strokes fell great oaks \"
78. . 無官一身輕. / You feel like a weight has been lifted off your body
when you are no longer a government official. /Free from office, free from
care.
79.飛鳥盡良弓藏,獵物盡走狗(烤) /When the birds are all gone, the best bow
is stored away. When the preys are gone; your hunting dog is cooked for a
meal. /A drastic way of saying that after you make use of your tools (or
worker, assistance etc..), you put them away. (It's like Y2K specialist
after Jan 1,2000)
80. 成者為王, 敗者為寇 /The one who wins the war becomes king and the
loser is relegated in the history book as the bandits./ My son suggested
this interpretation: Those who win the revolution write the history books.
81. 海中無魚蝦子大/ When there is no fish in the sea, the shrimps reign
supreme. /When there is no \" big guys \", the little guys rule.
The mediocrity shines in an arena where there are no real talents around.
82. 無事獻慇懃, 非奸即盜. / When someone comes to pay compliments and be
specially helpful without cause, he is either a crook or a thief./ People
who are overly friendly, flattering and/or give you unsolicited
hospitality usually have an evil intention in mind.
This is somewhat similar to the English expression of : Beware of Greeks
bearing gifts
83. 杇木不可雕. / Rotten wood cannot be carved.
Confucius made this comment when one of his students/disciples was found
wanting : this chap seems to be interested only in eating and
sleeping. /The equivalent English expression would be:
(i) You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
or
(ii) You cannot make filet mignon out of chopped liver.
84. 人不可貌相. / You cannot judge a person from how s/he looks. /Similar
to \" You cannot judge a horse by its saddle. \"
Or
You cannot judge a book by its cover.
85.一人得道,雞犬皆升. /When a person achieve ultimate enlightenment and
goes to heaven, his chicken and dog go with him. /Kind of a \" Halo
Effect \" . When one guy gets promoted, his associates all get promoted.
(Especially in an environment of rampant nepotism.)
86. 十年樹木,百年樹人. / To cultivate trees, you need 10 years. To
cultivate people, you need 100 years./ It takes a long time to produce a
generation of educated and cultured population.
There are some disagreement as to what, in Chinese, the \"100 years to
cultivate people\" realy means. If you can read Chinese, here is one
reference for this disucssion Han Ying Forum
87 君子喻于義,小人喻于利. /The perfect gentleman thinks and acts in terms
of what is right while the shyster is motivated only by profit. /This is a
quotation from The Analects and is attributed to Confucius.
88 相見好,同住難. /Easy to socialize, much harder to live together. /From
simple sharing rooms with friends to the shark infested world of marriage,
ain't this the truth !!
89. 酒後吐真言. / After one has a few drinks, s/he tends to tell the
truth. /Wine loosen our tongues
Suggestion from a Mr.Tony D. In vino veritas
90. 一鳥在手勝過百鳥在林./ A bird in your hand is better than 100 in the
forest. /A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.
91.一生兒女債,半世老婆奴. / We are indebted to our children for the whole
of our lives and, for half our lives, the slave of our wives (or
spouses.) / The traditional version is\"..slave of our wives\" . In the old
days, only the man works, nowadays, more often than not, the wife also
works. In many cases, the wife not only have a career to take care of, but
also the family to care for. More often than not, the wife now ends up
being the \"slave\" part of the relationship.
92. 一寸光陰一寸金,寸金難買寸光陰. / An inch of time is worth an inch of
gold; but it's hard to buy one inch of time with one inch of gold. Time is
money but , more often than not, even when you have money, you may not be
able to buy the time you need.
93. . 國家興亡,匹夫有責. / Every ordinary person is responsible for the
rise and fall of his country. / The fault, dear Brutus...
Every individual is ultimately responsible for the causes leading to the
prosperity or decay of his/her country.
94. 賜子千金,不如賜子一技/ Giving your son a skill is better than giving
him ;one thousand pieces of gold./ Similar to: \" Give a man a fish and he
will eat for one day; teach him how to fish and he will eat for a
lifetime.\"
95. 一失足成千古恨./ One step in the wrong direction will cause you a
thousand years of regret. /
This is best illustrated by 4 line's from the poem Upon the Valley's Lap
by Franics Bourdillon
So, often in the course,
Of life's few fleeting years,
A single pleasure costs,
The soul a thousand tears.
96. 書到用時方恨少. / (Literally) Books, when you need them, you will find
you have too little of them. / You will only regret how little you have
learnt when you need to utilize what you have learnt,
97。 久別勝新婚/ A little separation is better than newly wedded. /The
English equivalent would be Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
98。至哀莫大於心死/ The saddest thing is the death of the heart /Ms. TX on
the CE-forum suggested the following translation : There is no greater
sorrow than a heart that never rejoices.
99。 真金不怕溶爐火/ Real gold is not afraid of the fire of thecrucible /In other words, real gold (or real man, real woman etc..) can
stand the trial by fire .
100。差之毫厘﹐謬之千里 / If you are off by a tiny bit in the beginning,
you will end up being off by thousands of li(s) (Li is a Chinese mile=1000
chinese feet) /I am sure Chaos Theorist will agree wholeheartedly with
this one. I guess a similar English saying would be ff by an inch, off
by a mile
101。斬草不徐根﹐春風吹又生。/ If you cut grass (or weed for most North
American sub-urbanites) without removing its root, it will flourish once
again when the spring wind blows ./ The grass in this expression is
usually used to refer to negative things like crime, sickness etc.. It
suggests that you need to deal with the root of evil instead of its
manifestation. Unless and until you remove the root of the problem, it
will not go away and will come back to haunt you when the condition is
favourable again.
102。衣食足則知榮辱。/ Only after one is fully fed and clothed will he
know the difference between honour and shame. /This is a quotation from
the Chinese philosopher-political scholar Kuen Zi's treatise on the
Cultivation of People
The idea is similar to Maslow's (a few centuries later !!!) theory of
Hierarchy of Needs
A people in a state of hunger and destitution would not pay much heed to
higher ideals. Their primary goal is to survive and will do anything,
whether they be right or wrong, to achieve that,
103。 其身不正﹐其令不行。/ If your body is not upright, your orders will
not be followed./ If you yourself is not morally upright, your preaching
will not be credible.
Or
If you yourself do not follow the law, the laws you enacted will not be
followed.
104。 近朱者赤﹐近墨者黑。/ If you are near the dye vermilion, you will be
stained red, if you are close to black ink, you will be stained
black. /This is from the story about Mencius (known as the second Sage of
Confucianism; the first Sage being Confucius himself).
When Mencius was young, his mother, a widow, had to move 3 times in order
to get him to start studying. The third time being as the neighbour of a
scholar.
This expression essentially says that we are influenced by our immediate
surroundings and the company we keep.
A similar English expression is : He that touches pitch shall be defiled.
Or:
He who lies down with dogs gets up with fleas.
105。 學而不思則罔﹐思而不學則殆。/ Learning without reasoning leads to
confusion (or unclear in the concept); thinking without learning is wasted
effort./ This is perhaps the most quoted saying on learning by Confucius
from the book of Analects. I wonder what Piaget has to say about this .
Confucius said that if you only learn (spoon feeding) without thinking
over what you had learned, then you have learned nothing. ( Spoon feeding
leads only to regurgitation of undigested knowledge.)
On the other hand, if you do \" idle-thinking \" without the basis of solid
facts from learning , you will end up nowhere.
106。冰凍三尺﹐非一日之寒。/ A cold 3 feet of ice is not due to 3 days of
cold weather. /3 feet thick ice is not formed due to a mere 3 days of cold
weather. In other words : big nasty problems do not evolve overnight, they
must have been brewing for sometime.
107。寧為太平狗﹐不做亂世人。/ I rather be a dog in peaceful times, then
live as a man (woman) in turbulent times. /(I added this one in after
learning that the expression \"may you live in interesting times\" has
become very popular.)
Although the expression \"may you live in interesting times\" is often
referred to as a \"popular Chinese curse\", I do not recall having heard
that, at least not in that form.
After giving it some thought, I speculated that it may be a variant of \"
not wanted to be a man in turbulent times.\".
108。來說是非者﹐便是是非人。 / The guy who comes to gossip (spread
rumour) is him/her-self the culprit of such foul deeds. /Similar to the
English expression of \"What Peter says about Paul tells more about Peter
than Paul
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