Japanese And Zen Proverbs

Khalil Gibran Painting

If you wish to learn the highest truths, begin with the alphabet.

No branch is better than its trunk.

Darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse.

A fog cannot be dispelled by a fan.

Adversity is the foundation of virtue.

Affinity is a mysterious thing, but it is spicy.

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

Even a sheet of paper has two sides.

Even a thief takes ten years to learn his trade.

An excess of courtesy is discourtesy.

Bad and good are interwined like rope.

If a man be great, even his dog will wear a proud look.

If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.

If one man praises you, a thousand will repeat the praise.

If the father is a frog, the son will be a frog.

It is a beggar's pride that he is not a thief.

Laughter cannot bring back what anger has driven away.

Laughter is the hiccup of a fool.

Money grows on the tree of persistence.

My son is my son till he gets him a wife, but my daughter's my daughter all the days of her life.

Never trust the advice of a man in difficulty.

One kindness is the price of another.

One who smiles rather than rages is always the stronger.

One written word is worth a thousand pieces of gold.

Only lawyers and painters can turn white to black.

Silence surpasses speech.

The inarticulate speak longest.

The mouth is the door of evil.

The nail that sticks its head up is the one that gets hit.

The tongue is but three inches long, yet it can kill a man six feet high.

The tongue is more to be feared than the sword.

Tigers die and leave their skins; people die and leave their names.

Time spent laughing is time spent with the gods.

To teach is to learn.

Virtue is not knowing but doing.


Vision without action is a daydream; action without vision is a nightmare.

Walls have ears, bottles have mouths.

We learn little from victory, much from defeat.

While we consider when to begin, it becomes too late.

If you look up, there are no limits.

The beginning of sin is sweet; its end is bitter.

Zen Proverbs

Chinese Proverbs

Khalil Gibran Painting

All the flowers of all of the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.

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

If your strength is small, don't carry heavy burdens. If your words are worthless, don't give advice.

Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes.

Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still.

Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.

There are three truths: my truth, your truth, and the truth.

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


If you are planning for one year, grow rice. If you are planning for 20 years, grow trees. If you are planning for centuries, grow men.

A hundred men may make an encampment, but it takes a woman to make home.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Not the cry, but the flight of the wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow.

Happiness is like a sunbeam, which the least shadow intercepts, while adversity is often as the rain of spring.

If you wish your merit to be known, acknowledge that of other people.

Patience is power; with time and patience the mulberry leaf become silk.

Dig a well before you are thirsty.

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

Never was good work done without much trouble.

The person who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade.

When you cannot avoid, welcome.

More Chinese Proverbs
Japanese Proverbs
Zen Proverbs

Quotes About Etiquette

Claude Monet's Painting

Punctuality is one of the characteristics of politeness. ~ Martine's Handbook of Etiquette (1865)

A well-bred person always receives visitors... but if you are occupied and cannot afford to be interrupted you should instruct the servant beforehand to say you are 'not at home'. ~ The Habits of Good Society (1859)

A 'bore' is a person who does not know when you have had enough of his or her company. ~The Habits of Good Society (1859)

The introduction is of an inferior (which position a gentleman always holds to a lady) to the superior. ~The Habits of Good Society (1859)

Money is never talked of in polite society; it is taken for granted. ~ The book of Good Manners, Mrs Burton Kingsland (1901)

The etiquette of hand-shaking is simple. A man has no right to take a lady's hand till it is offered. ~ The Habits of Good Society (1859)

The gentleman who shakes hands with great warmth and empressement are two distinct individuals; the one is cordial and large-hearted -- the other wishes to ingratiate himself. ~ Manners and Rules of Good Society (1912)

A lady should conquer a habit of breathing hard, or coming in very hot, or even looking very blue and shivery. ~ The Habits of Good Society (1859)

A man, ... whether he aspires to be a gentleman or not, should learn to box. There are but few rules... , strike out, strike straight, strike sudden. Two gentlemen never fight; the art of boxing is brought into use in punishing a stronger and more impudent fellow of a class beneath your own. ~ The Habits of Good Society (1859)

All immoral or indecent acts of conduct, improper liberties or familiarities with the female passengers, blasphemous, obscene, or indecent language, ro language tending to a breach of the peace, swearing, gambling, drunkenness, fighting, disorderly, riotuous, quarrelsome, or insubordinate conduct and also all deposits of filth or offensive acts of uncleanliness in the between decks, are strictly prohibited. ~ From the Order in Council, for promoting order and health in passenger Ships to any of Her Majesty's possessions abroad (1864)

Women should dress quietly and inconspicuously when travelling. Anything startling should be avoided. ~ The Book of Etiquette Lady Troubridge (1926)

Divorced Ladies lose all titles. They assume their maiden name, and Mrs prefixed. ~ Beeton's Complete Letter-Writer for Gentlemen (1860)

It is very important that a mother should train her boys properly, from their earliest years. She must teach them that it is right for them to wait upon Ladies. There is no surer sign of a 'middle class' point of view than when men say that anything will do for women. In the upper classes, the men may be bad in many outward ways, but they pay every mark of respect to the women of their family. ~ Etiquette-Up-To-Date Lucie Heaton Armstrong (1924)