móu shì zài rén chéng shì zài tiān

man proposes, God disposes

pín jiàn bù néng yí

to remain morally upright even when destitute; Poor people lack the chance to emigrate, thus suffer from the social problems in their home country more than rich people.

出处: From Mencius

pín jiàn fū qī bǎi shì āi

Poverty destroys marriage.

直译: For poor couples, everything is sorrowful.

出处: Misinterpretation of a verse by the Tang dynasty poet Yuan Zhen. The original meaning in the poem is irrelevant to the modern meaning.

diē ge jiāo zi mǎi ge míng bai

synonym of 吃一塹，長一智 /吃一堑，长一智 (chī yī qiàn, zhǎng yī zhì, “a fall into the pit, a gain in your wit”)

sòng jūn qiān lǐ zhōng xū yī bié

It is time for us to part company.

直译: Even if you see a friend off for a thousand li, in the end you still have to part.

dào bù tóng bù xiāng wéi móu

people of different aspirations or principles cannot get along together

出处: From the Analects, Book 15 (《論語·衞靈公》)

jiǔ zhuàng sǒng rén dǎn⚠ 拼音待校

Alcohol emboldens a coward.

jiǔ féng zhī jǐ

to meet a bosom friend over a drink

jiǔ féng zhī jǐ qiān bēi shǎo

If you drink with a bosom friend, a thousand cups are too few.

出处: Attested in 名賢集.

jiǔ féng zhī jǐ qiān bēi shǎo huà bù tóu jī bàn jù duō

If you drink with a bosom friend, a thousand cups are too few; if you talk to someone who is not on the same page, even half a sentence is too much.

出处: Attested in 名賢集.

jīn wú zú chì rén wú wán rén

there is no perfect person; one cannot expect a person to be without any flaws or mistakes

jīn wō yín wō bù rú zì jǐ de gǒu wō

there's no place like home

直译: A gold house or a silver house is not as good as one's doghouse

出处: In this phrase, 狗窩 /狗窝 (gǒuwō) is a self-deprecatory term of one's home.

yán wáng jiào nǐ sān gēng sǐ shéi gǎn liú rén dào wǔ gēng

When death comes, there will be no postponement.

直译: When Yama decides you are to die at midnight, who dares to keep you till dawn?

fáng mín zhī kǒu shèn yú fáng chuān

It is more sinister and ominous to stop civilians from speaking than to block the river flows.

出处: From Guoyu

xióng biàn shì yín chén mò shì jīn

speech is silver, silence is golden

出处: Calque of English speech is silver, silence is golden.

fēng yǔ rú huì jī míng bù yǐ

a gentleman acts in a principled manner even in the darkest of times

出处: From the Classic of Poetry, poem 90 (《詩經·鄭風·風雨》)

shí bù yán qǐn bù yǔ

to not speak while eating or sleeping

出处: From the Analects, Book 10 (《論語·鄉黨》)

bǎo nuǎn sī yín yù

If one is warm and well fed, one will think about lust.

è sǐ de luò tuó bǐ mǎ dà

synonym of 瘦死的駱駝比馬大 /瘦死的骆驼比马大 (shòu sǐ de luòtuo bǐ mǎ dà)

直译: a camel starved to death is (still) bigger than a (living) horse

niǎo jìn gōng cáng

to cast somebody or something aside when the purpose has been served

直译: The birds are over, the bow is put away

出处: See 兔死狗烹 (tùsǐgǒupēng), which is quite often followed by this four-character idiom.

yù bàng xiāng zhēng, yú wēng dé lì⚠ 拼音待校

When two parties fight, it is always the third one who wins

直译: When the snipe and the oyster fight, it is the fisherman who reaps the reward

出处: From Zhan Guo Ce

má shéng zhuān tiāo xì chù duàn

The most critical person/step is the one most subject to flaws.

直译: A rope's thinnest part is the most vulnerable.

má què suī xiǎo wǔ zàng jù quán

It is small but fully equipped.

直译: A sparrow may be small, but it has all its vital organs.

lóng shēng lóng fèng shēng fèng

like father, like son

lóng shēng lóng fèng shēng fèng lǎo shǔ de ér zi huì dǎ dòng

like father, like son