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The proverbs of any country or culture contain the wisdom accumulated by its people over countless generations. China is the world’s oldest continuous civilization, with over three thousand years of history. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that the Chinese language is a particularly rich source of wisdom. Arguably no other language or culture has such a treasure trove of proverbs and popular sayings that comment on every aspect of the human experience. It has as many as 20,000 literary idioms and tens of thousands of popular maxims and sayings, in addition to the pithy and profound quotes to be gleaned from three millennia of Chinese philosophy and literature.

Whenever people in the English-speaking world hear of an especially insightful or clever quote whose origin seems at first uncertain, we look first to the Bible and then to Shakespeare (and Mark Twain, if you’re American). However, if the quote turns out to be from none of those major sources of wit and wisdom, we then assume it must be a Chinese saying—and very often that, indeed, proves to be the case. Every language and culture has many wonderful proverbs, of course, but no other matches Chinese in the sheer number of books and web sites devoted to it.

In Western countries like the United States, proverbs are heard less and less. Because individuality and creativity are prized, quoting age-old sayings is considered trite and outdated. Few young people in America today are heard to utter such maxims as “a stitch in time saves nine,” “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” or “the early bird catches the worm.” In China, however, sayings like the ones collected here are still peppered throughout daily speech. Their ancient culture gives the Chinese shared terms of reference in the thousands of phrases that sum up a situation in a few widely understood words. Employing the literary idioms demonstrates an educated background, and the use of the wide variety of sayings adds color and spice to conversation—to the point that the speech of someone who does not sprinkle his speech with these proverbs and maxims is said to have no flavor. In such a group-centered society, the emphasis is not on originality but, rather, on enjoying a shared cultural background. Wit and originality are displayed by cleverly changing the proverb’s wording to say things in a fresh and humorous way.

The Chinese distinguish between literary idioms, which usually consist of four words and derive from ancient stories; five- and seven-word maxims, which are considered reasonably refined and often come in rhyming couplets; and popular sayings passed down by the “common people” over many generations, which typically have no set length or form. Because this book is intended for people in the West who might be unconcerned with these traditional categories but are only interested in pearls of wisdom from any source, we have mixed together all the various types of proverbs and sayings. We have also included a few of the most famous quotations from Chinese writers, poets, and philosophers in the past three thousand years. Of course, no book of pithy wisdom could do without a few choice phrases said to have been uttered by Confucius, the most revered of all Chinese sages.

The emphasis in this book, however, is on the popular sayings of the common people—which best represent the Chinese people as a whole.

In general, we have included only the most important and most beloved sayings known to most Chinese. Some books or web sites on Chinese sayings give too few, while others catalog far too many. We have tried here to strike a useful compromise between those two extremes, to reach what Confucius called the “Golden Mean.”

This book is intended neither for scholars nor solely for those who already know Chinese. For those who are familiar with the language, we have included the original Chinese sayings in Chinese characters as well as in pinyin romanization. Our main goal, however, is to share with English speakers the rich variety of great insights and colorful metaphors that Chinese proverbs offer. This book is for all those who love pithy sayings about life, who love wordplay and clever turns of a phrase, and who want to gain a better understanding of Chinese culture.

What makes our book unique in the sea of other works available on this subject is that we attempt to show how Chinese proverbs and sayings reflect the Chinese view of the world. The book is divided into eighteen chapters, which group the sayings according to the various aspects of the human experience on which they comment, ranging from family and friends to money and morality to food. Each chapter begins with an explanation of the Chinese cultural background that relates to each of those topics.

Our fondest wish is that the reader will enjoy learning these nuggets of wisdom and witticisms and will be inspired to look deeper into Chinese history and culture. As you read the treasury of proverbs in the following pages, you will be struck by the similarity in joys and sorrows, problems and concerns, and virtues and vices experienced in both China and the West—a reflection of what the sage Confucius said nearly 2,500 years ago:

“Within the four seas, all men are brothers.”

(All human beings in the world are one family.)

Sì hǎi zhī nèi jiē xiōngdì yě.

四海之内皆兄弟也。