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.

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Ancient Wisdom III

If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.

A day of sorrow is longer than a month of joy.

Time and age wait for no one.

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

Great thoughts come from the heart.

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

Blind men hear what deaf men see.

A great man can bend and stretch.

A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion.

Small men think they are small; great men never know they are great.

If a man does only what is required of him, he is a slave.
If a man does more than is required of him, he is a free man.

There is a great man who makes every man feel small. But the really great man is the man who makes every man feel great.

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

Better late than never, but better never late.

Be kind to unkind people; they need it the most.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Only the man who crosses the river at night knows the value of the light of day.

To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.

Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.

Only he that has travelled the road knows where the holes are deep.

The water that bears the ship is the same that engulfs it.

When drinking water, remember the source.

When the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into the water.

The wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water moulds itself to the pitcher.

Once the water is out of the bucket it's hard to pour it back.

Blessings do not come in pairs; misfortunes seldom come singly.

It is not necessary to light a candle to the sun.

Those who play the game do not see it as clearly as those who watch.

There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same.

Even the highest mountain begins from the ground.

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

An enemy will agree, but a friend will argue.

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

Forget injuries but never forget kindness.

He who seeks revenge should remember to prepare two graves.

Thousands of bones will become ashes before a general achieves his fame.

The greatest victory is the battle not fought.

Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

Better to do a good deed at home than go far away to burn incense.