Chinese Proverbs

• The cunning hare has three burrows

• The eyes are  wide but the stomach is narrow

• A good friend shields you from the storm

• As a pig fears getting fat, so a man fears renown 

• Tigers and deer do not walk together

• Ants can move even a mighty mountain

• Observers can see a chess game more clearly than players

• Genuine gold fears no fire

• Crows are black  the world over

• A single spark can set a prairie on fire

• When the rabbits are dead the  hounds that tracked them will be cooked

• You cannot satisfy hunger by drawing a cake

• Serving the powerful is like sleeping with a tiger

• Rivers and mountains are more easily changed than a man's nature

• Distance tests the endurance of a horse; time reveals a man's character

• When a tree falls, the monkeys scatter

• Water can both sustain and sink a ship

• It is difficult to get off a tiger's back

• A swallow cannot know the lofty ambitions of an eagle

• If you do not brave the tiger's lair, how can you capture the cub?

• When you drink water, remember the source

• A lean dog shames its master

• Water can drip through stone

• A swarm of mosquitoes can sound like thunder

• On earth no feast lasts forever

• It is easy to dodge a spear you can see, difficult to guard against an arrow shot from hiding

• Do not climb a tree to look for fish

• Better to make a net than to yearn for fish at the edge of a pond

• Sow melon, reap melon; sow beans, reap beans

• A good bee never takes pollen from  a fallen flower

• A cornered rat  will bite the cat

• A person without a smiling face should not open a shop

• You do not need a butcher's knife  to kill a chicken

• A tree has its roots ,a stream its source

• Ivory does not come out of a dog's mouth

• An old horse knows the way

• Good medicine is bitter to the taste

• You cannot help shoots grow by pulling them up

• Better to be a rooster's beak than a bull's rump

• Trees may prefer calm, but the wind will not subside

• A mouse can see only an inch

• Do not wait until you're thirsty to dig a well

• The sparrow may be a small but it has all the vital organs

• When weeding, destroy the roots

• Do not kill the hen for her eggs

• If the horse dies, then you have to walk

• Rats   know the way of rats

• You cannot clip with one hand

• Flowers look different to different eyes

• A man is judged by his clothes, a horse by its saddle

• Spilt water cannot be retrieved

•  One foot cannot stand on two boats

•  Better to do without books than to believe everything they say

•  If you do not climb the mountain, you will not see the plain

•  An avaricious person is like a snake trying to swallow an elephant

•  When you paint a dragon, dot its eyes

• It does not matter if the cat is black or white so long as it catches rats

• Beware the person with a Buddha's mouth and a snake's heart