Chinese Proverbs Quotes

Today's inspiration, motivation, and information comes from some unique Chinese proverbs quotes. You'll see there are a few categories so there's certainly something to float your boat!

Sometimes it's the simple stuff that really strikes a chord with us. And let's face it, short, wise sayings are one thing that people have come to recognize about far east sayings such as those from the Buddha and Confucius.

Chinese proverbs on life

Inspirational Chinese proverbs

Chinese proverbs about love

Chinese proverbs Confucius

Chinese proverbs on life

A book holds a house of gold.

A book tightly shut is but a block of paper.

If what we see is doubtful, how can we believe what is spoken behind the back.

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.

A fool judges people by the presents they give him.

A rat who gnaws at a cat's tail invites destruction.

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

Do good, reap good; do evil, reap evil.

Do not remove a fly from your friend's forehead with a hatchet.

He who strikes the first blow admits he's lost the argument.

If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.

If you always give, you will always have.

Inspirational Chinese proverbs

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

A gem is not polished without rubbing, nor a man perfected without trials.

Raise your sail one foot and you get ten feet of wind.

Behave toward everyone as if receiving a guest.

An inch of time is an inch of gold but you can't buy that inch of time with an inch of gold.

A fall into a ditch makes you wiser.

To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.

Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself.

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

Dig the well before you are thirsty.

If you bow at all, bow low.

If you don't want anyone to know, don't do it.

Chinese proverbs about love

Married couples who love each other tell each other a thousand things without talking.

A flower cannot blossom without sunshine nor a garden without love.

Better a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.

Love is blind, and greed insatiable.

So lovers, to their fair one fondly blind, E'en on her ugliness with transport gaze.

The remedy for love is--land between.

Chinese proverbs Confucius

I hear, I know. I see, I remember. I do, I understand.

To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Silence is a true friend who never betrays.

Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it.

If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?

The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.

In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of ones ignorance.

He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.

To see and listen to the wicked is already the beginning of wickedness.

It is better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness.

Worry not that no one knows of you; seek to be worth knowing


Personally, I found these Chinese proverbs really neat. The most interesting part about the quotes (even though translated) is that they really help demonstrate the principle that old truths never change. That is a big lesson that Jim Rohn teaches, and a lesson that he was taught as well.

As always, don't bother memorizing all these proverbs and quotes. But instead of that, just pick a few and write them on a notecard, buy a poster with them or just try to use them in your daily language. Like Confucius said, by actually doing what you read on this blog you will take your understanding to a whole new level. The level only attained by putting these lessons into action!