Japanese Proverbs Life Love Sayings
You should climb Mount Fujiyama once in your life. Climb it twice and you're a fool.
A wild goose may be worth a hundred pieces of gold, but you first have to spend three pieces of gold to buy an arrow. |
The more the merrier. |
Making money is like digging with a needle. |
Even monkeys fall from trees. |
The poor sleep soundly. |
It is better to be the head of a chicken than the rear of an ox. |
Better to wash an old kimono than borrow a new one. |
The mouth of a man is a terrible opening. |
Vision with action is a daydream; action without vision is a nightmare. |
The world is the world for the world. |
Transactions in Hell also depend upon money. |
Cooked rice grains sticking to the soles of the feet. |
The neighbour's lawn is green. |
Greetings are the patron gods of our time. |
To leap into a pool embracing a stone. |
One who eats plain food is healthy. |
Sorrow is the seed of wealth. |
Tomorrow's battle is won during today's practice. |
Drink and sing: the dark night is ahead of us. |
The lazy one stands up between one armchair and another. |
Good medicine often has a bitter taste. |
From gods that are left alone, there is no curse. |
Even confucius had his misfortunes. |
He who smells does not know it himself. |
One may study calligraphy at eighty. |
The person who admits ignorance shows it once; the one who tries to hide it shows it often. |
If you are travelling towards the East, you will inevitably move away from the West. |
Looking up we are not ashamed in the presence of heaven, nor bowing down are we ashamed in the presence of earth. |
The pebble in the brook secretly thinks itself a precious stone. |
Japanese Sayings in English |
A boat that is not tied up will drift along with the stream. |
Great trees are envied by the wind. |
A word can't be recalled once spoken. |
Every fashion goes out of style. |
When you are polite, the others think they are wearing flowers. |
He is not poor that hath not feel content. |
Pursue your duties and don't let them pursue you. |
A rosy face in the morning, white bones in the evening. |
We learn little from victory, but a great deal from defeat. |
Difficulties make you a jewel. |
Boat-swalling fish do not live in brooks. |
Even monkees fall from trees. |
People want to avoid the dew before they become wet. |
A crooked top on a crooked kettle. |
When you have children yourself, you begin to understand what you owe your parents. |
Overturned water doesn't return to the tray. |
He who buys useless things, later sells things that he needs. |
Water will always take the form of the vase it fills. |
A fool is only cured by dying. |
If you make a mistake, don't hesitate to correct it. |
One who waits patiently will catch a big fish. |
When you're thirsty it's too late to think about digging a well. |
Rather ten thousand lanterns from a wealthy man than one lantern from a poor man. |
Fall down seven times, get up eight. |
Don't estimate the value of a badger skin before catching the badger. |
A buddha's face when asked three times. |
Virtue is not knowing but doing. |
He who is always right will never get round the world. |
Where there is no antagonist, you cannot quarrel. |
Don't call in the doctor after the funeral. |
Silence makes irritation grow. |
If you wait long enough, it will be good weather. |
Only he who knows his own weaknesses can endure those of others. |
A good cat does not need a collar of gold. |
Unhappiness can be a bridge to happiness. |
Fallen blossoms do not return to branches; a broken mirror does not again reflect. |
Once you have made a fortune, know how to spend it. |
Advertising is the mother of trade. |
Wisdom is lost in a fat man's body. |
He who knows not when he has enough, is poor. |
A faithful wife does not marry again. |
Trash accumulates in stagnant water. |
Better to die than to live in shame. |
One who smiles rather than rages is always the stronger. |
Brides and mothers-in-law are like dogs and monkeys. |
Don't stay long when the husband is not at home. |
In a quarrel, the higher voiced person will win. |
Women's quarrels cause the men's wars. |
He who steals incense smells of it. |
If a man deceive me once, shame on him; if he deceive me twice, shame on me. |
Spend words as efficiently as money. |
To the starving man the beauty of Fujiyama has no meaning. |
A single prayer moves heaven. |
You can see heaven through the eye of the needle. |
One kindness is the price of another. |
Feed a dog for three days and it is gratefull for three years. Feed a cat for three years and it forgets after three days. |
Indifference is a generous kind of intolerance. |
One cannot scoop up the ocean with a sea shell. |
Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice inside the ceiling laugh. |
He who would go a hundred miles should consider ninety-nine as halfway. |
You cannot catch a tiger cub unless you enter the tiger's den. |
One coin saved, a hundred losses. |
To make the tea cloudy. |
A bee stinging a crying face. |
Don't try to cover the stone with a quilt. |
To change like the eyes of a cat. |
A joke is often the hole through which truth whistles. |
The base of a lighthouse is dark. |
It belongs neither to the sea nor to the mountain. |
Flattery is the best persuader of people. |
One can stand still in a flowing stream, but not in a world of men. |
Time flies like an arrow. |
I have no friends; I make my mind my friend. |
Even when he has not eaten, a samurai wields his toothpick. |
By seeing one spot you know the entire leopard. |
If you would shoot a general, shoot his horse first. |
The character of a man lies not in his body but in his soul. |
You won't get sick if you have plenty of work. |
After three years useless things are useful too. |
Pick your wife in the kitchen. |
There is nothing that cannot be achieved by firm imagination. |
At the first cup man drinks wine, at the second wine drinks wine, at the third wine drinks man. |
A bad wife is a poor harvest for sixty years. |
If a man be great, even his dog will wear a proud look. |
Old people are everyone's treasures. |
Sleep and wait for good luck. |
Fools and scissors require good handling. |
It is foolish to deal with a fool. |
Fall seven times and stand up eight. |
Do good things quickly. |
Japanese Proverbs About Life |
Life's not all beer and skittles. |
Life is the source of all things. |
Life is a candle before the wind. |
Life is for one generation; a good name is forever. |
Life is a long journey with a heavy bag on its back. |
Life? That is a candle in the wind; frost upon a roof; the twitching of the fish in a pan. |
Life without endeavor is like entering a jewel-mine and coming out with empty hands. |
Only God knows one's term of life. |
Even when months and days are long, life is short. |
It is the same life whether we spend it crying or laughing. |
Plan your life at New Year's eve, your day at dawn. |
A beautiful woman is like an axe in one's life. |
It is precisely the uncertainty of this world that makes life worth living. |
It is one life, whether we spend it in laughing or in weeping. |
Beat your wife on the wedding day, and your married life will be happy. |
He who wants what God wants of him will lead a free and happy life. |
Some people like to make of life a garden, and to walk only within its paths. |
One moment of intense happiness prolongs life by a thousand years. |
You will never learn enough looking for only the good things in life; you will always be a pupil. |
You should climb Mount Fujiyama once in your life. Climb it twice and you're a fool. * |
My son is my son till he gets him a wife, but my daughter's my daughter all the days of her life. |
Japanese Proverbs About Love |
Love and a cough cannot be hidden. |
Love without friendship is like a shadow without the sun. |
Love lives in palaces as well as in thatched cottages. |
The extreme form of passionate love is secret love. |
Eat before falling in love. |
Who travels for love finds a thousand miles not longer than one. |
In the eyes of a lover a pock-marked face is one with pretty dimples. |
To the partial eyes of a lover, pockmarks seem like dimples. |
A man in love mistakes a pimple for a dimple. |
If you love your son, let him travel. |
A man in love mistakes a harelip for a dimple. |
If you love your son, make him leave home. |
Two lovers in the rain have no need of an umbrella. |
He who treads the path of love walks a thousand meters as if it were only one. |
If you make love in the shade you get cold. |
When someone offends you, you haven't given him enough love. |
It's awful, I hate it" is hardly the other side of "That is beautiful and I loved it." |
The friendship of water and fish. |
No road is too long in the company of a friend. |
He who is dependant on others must make friends with the dog. |
There are formalities between the closest of friends. |
| Absent friends get further away every day. |
Over-intelligent people can't find friends. |
When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends. |
Duty knows no family. |
If you turn into a dog, be sure to choose a rich family. |
If you become a dog, turn into the dog of a wealthy family. |
If you have only two pennies left in the world, with the first penny, you should buy rice to feed your family. With the second penny, say the wise Japanese, you should buy a lily. The Japanese understand the importance of dreaming... |
A frog in the well knows not the ocean. |
It is a blessing in disguise. |
Books are preserved parts of minds. |
Happiness rarely keeps company with an empty stomach. |
Even when a samurai has not eaten, he holds his toothpick high. |
When ten thousand soldiers lie rotting, the general's reputation is enhanced. |
Poke a bush, a snake comes out. |
Deceive the rich and powerful if you will, but don't insult them. |
As soon as stones can swim, leaves will sink. |
When the heat has past, you forget about the shade tree. |
If you hate a man, let him live. |
People with the same disease share sympathy. |
When a bonsai stops growing, you know it's dead. |
| As soon as a man leaves his house he has seven enemies. |
The country is in ruins, and there are still mountains and rivers. |
It is better to go home and make your net than to gaze longingly at the fish in the deep pool. |
There is no escape from the net of heaven. |
Because of their figure, vain women stay cold. |
Nothing so visible than what you want to hide. |
Silence surpasses speech. |
The dog called "Sorrow," without eating, will be fat in every house. |
Children yoke parents to the past, present and future. |
If he works for you, you work for him. |
Fortune will call at the smiling gate. |
A tea cup on the edge of a well. |
There are no national frontiers to learning. |
No branch is better than its trunk. |
Obey the customs of the village you enter. |
Eggplants do not grow on melon vines. |
The fast talker makes mistakes. |
An ant's nest could bring down a hill. |
The turtle underestimates the value of fast feet. |
If my shirt knew my design, I'd burn it. |
Never admit that there is a tomorrow. |
The nail that sticks up gets hammered down. |
Gain from your opponents without sacrificing your own strength. |
The frog in his pond sneers at the ocean. |
Fools and knives require good handling. |
A man's heart and the autumnal sky. |
The taller the bamboo grows, the lower it bends. |
Even a fool knows the glow of gold. |
It's better to lie a little than to be unhappy. |
Never rely on the glory of the morning nor the smiles of your mother-in-law. |
Better than a banquet somewhere else is a good cup of tea and a bowl of rice at home. |
Moonlight and boiled rice. |
The guest who seeks special attention muddies the host's tea. |
A merry companion on the road is as good as a nag. |
No one was ever hurt by laughter. |
Good luck in business is like the froth on an ox's face. |
The spit aimed at the sky comes back to one. |
Any ground is good enough to be buried in. |
If the fountainhead is clear, the stream will be clear. |
The heart is the most essential human quality. |
Darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse. |
Kindness will never be wasted in any way. |
The soul of a three year old until a hundred. |
Conqueror the self and you will conquer the opponent. |
May you live up to one hundred years and i up to ninety-nine. |
The inarticulate speak longest. |
Too many hands will row the boat up a mountain. |
Even a thousand-mile journey begins with the first step. |
A pig used to dirt turns up his nose at rice. |
The second word makes the fray. |
Great deeds come from times of shortage. |
The most beautiful flowers flourish in the shade. |
The speaker may well be a fool but the listener is wise. |
The hole the crab digs takes on the shape of its shell. |
Once we meet and talk, we are brothers and sisters. |
Crabs dig holes according to the size of their shells. |
The lotus flower blooms in the mud. |
Laughter is the hiccup of a fool. |
If you are going out for a fight leave your best hat at home. |
Without wine, even beautiful cherry blossoms have small attraction. |
The poor have no time to spare. |
One dog yelping at nothing will set ten thousand straining at their collars. Japan Proverb in English |
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