A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. (Chinese)
A lie goes around the world while truth is still putting on its shoes. (Russian?)
When you pull your cart to the foot of the mountain, a path will appear. --Chinese proverb
A jerk’s as good as a pull.
A pull’s as good as a yank,
and a Yank’s a d@mn fine American![ul]Anon.[/ul]
I’m so happy, my ears are clapping![ul]Philippine Saying[/ul]
Life is uncertain, eat dessert first.[ul]Anon.[/ul]
Live fast, die young and leave a good looking corpse.[ul]Anon.[/ul]
The last true Christian died on the cross.[ul]Nietzsche[/ul]
If a problem can be solved by writing a check, it’s not a problem. It’s an expense.[ul]Fred Smith Founder of Federal Express[/ul]
Mankind is the only animal that blushes, or needs to!
A Mississippi river boat resembles nothing so much as a wedding cake, except without all the complications.
A wholesome and broadminded view of the world cannot be obtained by sitting in one little corner of it all one’s life.
A consultant is a man who borrows your watch to tell you what time it is.
In theory, practice and theory are the same.
In practice, they aren’t.[ul]Anon.[/ul]
Of course, Willard Motley may have cribbed it from some place, but this is my remembered source.
DD
If you have to eat a turd, it’s best not to nibble at it. Chefguy
[nitpick]
These are great and all, but I was looking more for what idioms or maxims in other languages.
[/nitpick]
>Rain before evening, dark before midnight.
When else?
Japanese:
Tsuno wo tamete, ushi wo korosu
To straighten the horns and kill the bull.
i.e. To screw up an endeavour by overkilling the correction of minor flaws.
Usagi no tsuno
Hare’s horn
i.e. Invisible Pink Unicorn
Saru mo ki kara ochiru
Even monkeys fall from the trees.
Suru no wa shippai, nanimo shinai no wa dai-shippai
To do it is to fail, to not do it is to fail big-time.
i.e. It’s better to fail trying than to not do anything.
Not idioms, but poems I’m quite fond of (work as maxims too!)
Ame, arare, yuki ya koori to hedatete mo, tokereba onaji tanigawa no mizu
Rain, hail, snow and ice. We make distinctions but once they melt, it’s all the same valley stream’s water.
Wakenoboru fumoto no michi wa ookeredo, onaji takane no tsuki wo miru kana.
At the foot of the mountain, the paths that climb up are numerous, but at the summit we watch the same moon.
Both poems by Ikkyu.
Nagaraeba mata konogoro ya shinobaren. Ushi to mishi yo zo, ima wa koishiki.
Time will pass and I will remember these days. Times that seem so sad, I will think of them fondly.
Fujiwara no Kiyosuke
A few gems from the Dhammapada:
*Bahum pi ce sa§hita§ bhàsamàno na takkaro hoti naro pamatto
Gopo va gàvo gaõaya§ paresa§ na bhàgavà sàma¤¤assa hoti. *
If he recites many teachings, but – heedless man – doesn’t do what they say, like a cowherd counting the cattle of others, he has no share in the contemplative life.
*Yo bàlo ma¤¤ati bàlya§ paõóito và’pi tena so
Bàlo ca paõóita-mànã sa ve bàlo ti vuccati. *
A fool with a sense of his foolishness is – at least to that extent – wise.
But a fool who thinks himself wise really deserves to be called a fool.
All in Flemish:
tis lik een iengeltje die up me toenge pist
it’s like an angel pissing on my tongue
when a drink tastes particularly good
jis deur den oaze gepoept.
he’s been shagged by a hare
he’s in a real hurry
elke oend met een oedje
Every dog wearing a hat
the whole world and it’s mother
Chinese:
Ma ma hu hu
Horse horse tiger tiger
Mediocre; so-so
Chinese:
Lan yu chong shu
Refers to a story of a conductor adding dozens of stand-ins to a few talented musicians to give the appearance of a large orchestra.
To appear an expert when you have no idea what you’re doing.
I always say this when someone compliments my (modest) Chinese. Nine out of ten times the other person laughs.
I think Robert Kennedy made this one up during his visit to Africa.
One day at work when the higher-ups were all going to be gone I said “When the cat’s away the mice will play” to my Chinese co-worker and asked her if they had a similar saying. She said,
"When the lion comes down from the mountain the monkey becomes king."
I like theirs better.
Cantonese:
Dah feh geh
Beat the airplane
Masturbate
Ley chi sin
You have crossed wires
You are crazy
I heard some girls have now begun using “beat the submarine.”
Italian
A tutto c’è rimedio, fuorchè alla morte.
There is a cure for everything except death
Chi ha fretta vada piano.
Make haste slowly
Chi pecora si fa, il lupo se la mangia.
Those who make themselves sheep will be eaten by the wolf
German
Was man wünscht, glaubt man gern.
What one wishes for, one believes readily
Es ist Wurst.
It’s sausage.
It doesn’t matter, it’s of no consequence
Quastch!
Ridiculous! Nonsense!
Ein Mann, ein Wort.
One man, one word.
A promise is a promise.
then some jokers (drunk old men that lean too close so that you may bask in their cleverness)
“Ein Mann, ein Wort - eine Frau, ein Wörterbuch.”
(One man, one word - one woman, one dictionary.)
Spanish
Yo te conozco bacalao, aunque vengas disfrazado.
I know you codfish, even though you wear a disguise.
I know your game.
Oooh, what’s submarine in Canto then (I also need the word for eels).
Chinese (A Chengyu)
Guan men da goa // Close door, beat dog
I like this one because of the image involved…he dog has peed on the carpet and knows he’s done something wrong. So you have to make sure he can’t run before you fram on him with the newspaper.
Two of my favorites in Spanish
Bicho malo nunca se muere.
A bad creature never dies.
Es mejor perder un minuto en la vida, que la vida en un minuto.
It’s better to lose a minute in your life, than lose your life in a minute.