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Anger
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"If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow."
-Chinese Proverb
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Birds
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You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair.
[Also seen as: You cannot prevent the birds of worry and care from flying over your head. But you can stop them from building a nest in your head.]
-Chinese Proverb
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People live like birds in the woods: When the time comes, each must take flight.
-Chinese Proverb
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Failure
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The great question is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with failure.
-Chinese Proverb
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Fate & Destiny
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If fortune smiles, who doesn't? If fortune doesn't, who does?
-Chinese Proverb
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Friends
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A man should choose a friend who is better than himself. There are plenty of acquaintances in the world; but very few real friends.
-Chinese Proverb
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Gratitude
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"We count our miseries carefully, and accept our blessings without much thought."
-Chinese Proverb
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Play/Games
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If you must play, decide upon three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time.
-Chinese Proverb
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Proverbial Wisdom
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Geng Lei was a famous archer of the state of Wei. One day while he was on an excursion outside the city with the King of Wei, he saw a bird circling in the sky. The King asked him to down the goose with an arrow. He answered: "I don't have to use an arrow. I can just make the bird fall down from the sky with my arch." "Do you have that marvellous skill?" asked the King. Presently they saw the wild goose flying from the east. Geng Ying twanged the string of his bow and indeed the wild goose at once dropped to the ground in front of them. "You're really a wonderful archer", said the King with approval. Geng Lei said, "This is a wounded wild goose. From its desolate cry and tired flight you can see its wound has not yet healed. When it heard the twang of my bow-string, it thought it was again hit by an arrow and fell from the sky."
-Chinese Proverb, Best Chinese Idioms, p.292
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Questions
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"He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever."
-Chinese Proverb
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Running
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Of all the thirty-six alternatives, running away is best.
-Chinese Proverb
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Teaching
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"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life."
-Chinese Proverb
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"Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself."
-Chinese Proverb
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Time
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"With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown."
-Chinese Proverb
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Variety
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"Sour, sweet, bitter, pungent, all must be tasted."
-Chinese Proverb
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Books by and about Chinese Proverb
