Proverbs
Annotation And Connotations
- Visiting monks give better sermons.
(Chinese original: 外来的和尚好念经； Chinese Pinyin:
Wài lái de héshang hǎo niànjīng.)
- People always value opinions coming from sources other than their fellow employees.
- Mend the pen only after the sheep are all gone.
(Chinese original: 亡羊补牢；Chinese Pinyin: Wáng-yáng-bǔ-láo.)
- Some say it is too late. Some say, well, if you learn a lesson, it is not necessarily late: no more sheep will flee. It is better than if you leave the pen broken at all. Therefore people use the proverb to either purpose.
- He who plays with fire will get himself burned.
(Chinese original: 玩火自焚；Chinese Pinyin: Wán-huǒ-zì-fén.)
- An evil doer will eventually end up being punished.
- Ruthlessness is key to a man's accomplishment.
(Chinese original: 无毒不丈夫; Chinese Pinyin: Wú dú bù zhàngfu.)
- Unfortunately history proves it to be true again and again, particularly among statesmen and politicians.
- No wind, no waves.
(Chinese original: 无风不起浪； Chinese Pinyin: Wú fēng bù qǐ làng.)
- How about "There is no fire without smoke."? The assumption here is that rumors may have some grounds.
- Things will develop in the opposite direction when they become extreme.
(Chinese original: 物极必反；Chinese Pinyin: Wù-jí-bì-fǎn.)
- The pendulum is also swing back and forth.
- One never comes to pray in the Temple of Three Treasures if he is not in trouble.
(Chinese original: 无事不登三宝殿； Chinese Pinyin: Wú shì bū dēng sānbǎodiàn.)
- When someone who rarely contacts you suddenly comes to you and you know what he is come to, you will say this to yourself.
- If you've done nothing wrong, you shouldn't worry about devils knocking at your door in midnight.
(Chinese original: 无事不怕鬼叫门； Chinese Pinyin: Wú shì bù pà guǐ jiào mén.)
- Same as "If you have not done anything evil, you should not worry too much": the good/regular always overwhelms the bad/irregular though in real life it is not necessarily so.
- Fifty steps laugh at a hundred steps.
(Chinese original: 五十步笑一百步； Chinese Pinyin: Wǔ shí bù xiào yī bǎi bù.)
