CHINESE PROVERBS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 July 1939, Page 4

CHINESE PROVERBS

GEM-LIKE PHRASES. Prized as much for its rarity as for its fire and brilliance, the diamond is the best comparison to the proverb. All the wisdom, thought and experience of the best minds of men are crystallized | into the short, easily-remembered phrases 'that ought to guide everyone’s daily life. Translations from the Chinese reveal a ilavour and-an aptness to Occidental life all the more amazing when it is realised the Oriental maxims originated milleniums ago in the depths of the Far East. The Chinese axiom possesses a neatness of phrasing and an exotic tang that are a welcome substitute for the hackneyed saws familiar to every American school-boy. Research experts studying China for the film "International Settlement,” uncovered many pithy statements of the ancient mandarins highly applicable to present-day conditions. The following are a few of the more outstanding!v apropos proverbs: The greatest conqueror is he ■ who overcomes an enemy without a blow. 1 Marble is not less hard or cold for being polished.. He who rides’a tiger is afraid to dismount.

Take no notice of what you hear said on the pillow. One's good deeds arc known only at home; one’s 1.-ad deeds far away. When ycirr horse is on the brink of a precipice, it is too late to pull ir. the reins. Enthrone conscience and you wil have nothing to eat. When the arrow is on the string ii must go. If at home a man receives no visitors. then abroad he will have no host. The water that bears the ship is the same that engulfs it. That the wicked have plenty to ea' is no indication of the approval of heaven.