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Action(s)
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The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
-Chinese Proverb
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I hear and I forget, I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
-Chinese Proverb
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Better do a good deed near at home than go far away to burn incense.
-Chinese Proverb
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To talk goodness is not good... only to do it is.
-Chinese Proverb
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Adversity
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A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.
-Chinese Proverb
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Advice
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If your strength is small, don't carry heavy burdens. If your words are worthless, don't give advice.
-Chinese Proverb
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Age
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The woman who tells her age is either too young to have anything to lose or too old to have anything to gain.
-Chinese Proverb
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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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Blame
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Better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness.
-Chinese Proverb
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Business
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Don't open a shop unless you like to smile.
-Chinese Proverb
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Certainty
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To be uncertain is to be uncomfortable, but to be certain is to be ridiculous.
-Chinese Proverb
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Character
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If you stand straight, do not fear a crooked shadow.
-Chinese Proverb
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Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.
-Chinese Proverb
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Charity
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Sow much, reap much; sow little, reap little.
-Chinese Proverb
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Children
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Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.
-Chinese Proverb
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Conscience
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He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes.
-Chinese Proverb
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Criticism
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Those who have free seats at a play hiss first.
-Chinese Proverb
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Do not use a hatchet to remove a fly from your friend's forehead.
-Chinese Proverb
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Danger
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Biggest profits mean gravest risks.
-Chinese Proverb
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Death
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Life is a dream walking death is a going home.
-Chinese Proverb
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Decisions
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A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion.
-Chinese Proverb
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Discontent
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Who is not satisfied with himself will grow; who is not sure of his own correctness will learn many things.
-Chinese Proverb
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Doctors
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The superior doctor prevents sickness; The mediocre doctor attends to impending sickness; The inferior doctor treats actual sickness;
-Chinese Proverb
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Doubt
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Great doubts deep wisdom. Small doubts little wisdom.
-Chinese Proverb
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Dreams
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I dreamed a thousand new paths. I woke and walked my old one.
-Chinese Proverb
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Enemy, Enemies
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The fire you kindle for your enemy often burns yourself more than him.
-Chinese Proverb
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Experience
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Experience is a comb which nature gives to men when they are bald.
-Chinese Proverb
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Failure
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Everyone pushes a falling fence.
-Chinese Proverb
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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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Fame
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Riches: A dream in the night. Fame: A gull floating on water.
-Chinese Proverb
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Family
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All people are your relatives, therefore expect only trouble from them.
-Chinese Proverb
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Govern a family as you would cook a small fish -- very gently.
-Chinese Proverb
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In a broken nest there are few whole eggs.
-Chinese Proverb
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Man is the head of the family, woman the neck that turns the head.
-Chinese Proverb
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Fate & Destiny
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If we do not change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed.
-Chinese Proverb
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If fortune smiles, who doesn't? If fortune doesn't, who does?
-Chinese Proverb
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Fools, Foolishness
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If a man fools me once, shame on him. If he fools me twice, shame on me.
-Chinese Proverb
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Fortune
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A great fortune depends on luck, a small one on diligence.
-Chinese Proverb
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Freedom
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The saving man becomes the free man.
-Chinese Proverb
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Friends
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With true friends... even water drunk together is sweet enough.
-Chinese Proverb
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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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Future, The
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When men speak of the future, the Gods laugh.
-Chinese Proverb
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Goodness
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There are two perfectly good men, one dead, and the other unborn.
-Chinese Proverb
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Gossip
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Your friend has a friend; don't tell him.
-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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Growth
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Enough shovels of earth -- a mountain. Enough pails of water -- a river.
-Chinese Proverb
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Climb mountains to see lowlands.
-Chinese Proverb
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Habits
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Habits are cobwebs at first; cables at last.
-Chinese Proverb
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Happiness
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If you want happiness for an hour -- take a nap. If you want happiness for a day -- go fishing. If you want happiness for a month -- get married. If you want happiness for a year -- inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime -- help someone else.
-Chinese Proverb
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Happiness is like a sunbeam, which the least shadow intercepts, while adversity is often as the rain of spring.
-Chinese Proverb
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Heart
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If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come.
-Chinese Proverb
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Home
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A hundred men may make an encampment, but it takes a woman to make a home.
-Chinese Proverb
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Humor
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One never needs their humor as much a when they argue with a fool.
-Chinese Proverb
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Identity
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The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.
-Chinese Proverb
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Insanity
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Insanity is doing the same thing in the same way and expecting a different outcome.
-Chinese Proverb
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Joy, Excitement
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One joy scatters a hundred grieves.
-Chinese Proverb
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Knowledge
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When you cease to strive to understand, then you will know without understanding.
-Chinese Proverb
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Learning
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Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.
-Chinese Proverb
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Those who do not study are only cattle dressed up in men's clothes.
-Chinese Proverb
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Memory
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The palest ink lasts longer than the most retentive memory.
-Chinese Proverb
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Mistakes
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Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without one.
-Chinese Proverb
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Money
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If you are poor, though you dwell in the busy marketplace, no one will inquire about you; if you are rich, though you dwell in the heart of the mountains, you will have distant relatives.
-Chinese Proverb
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Parenting
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To understand your parents' love you must raise children yourself.
-Chinese Proverb
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Persuasion
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The tongue can paint what the eye can't see.
-Chinese Proverb
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Pessimism
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One dog barks at something, the rest bark at him.
-Chinese Proverb
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Planning
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One step at a time is good walking.
-Chinese Proverb
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When planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant trees. When planning for life, train and educate people.
-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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Pleasure
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Pleasure for one hour, a bottle of wine. Pleasure for one year a marriage; but pleasure for a lifetime, a garden.
-Chinese Proverb
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Progress
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Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still.
-Chinese Proverb
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Promises
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In the midst of great joy, do not promise anyone anything. In the midst of great anger, do not answer anyone's letter.
-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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Man who waits for roast duck to fly into mouth must wait very, very long time.
-Chinese Proverb
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Religion
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A maker of idols is never an idolater.
-Chinese Proverb
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Respect
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Respect for ones parents is the highest duty of civil life.
-Chinese Proverb
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Ritual, Ceremony
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Ceremony is the smoke of friendship.
-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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Secrets
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What is told into the ear of a man is often heard a hundred miles away.
-Chinese Proverb
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Simplicity
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Never do anything standing that you can do sitting, or anything sitting that you can do lying down.
-Chinese Proverb
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Speeches (oratory)
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To climb a tree to catch a fish is talking much and doing nothing.
-Chinese Proverb
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Success & Failure
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If you want 1 year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow people.
-Chinese Proverb
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The journey is the reward.
-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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Thought
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Think of your own faults the first part of the night when you are awake, and of the faults of others the latter part of the night when you are asleep.
-Chinese Proverb
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Time
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An inch of time cannot be bought with an inch of gold.
-Chinese Proverb
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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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Victory
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The greatest conqueror is he who overcomes the enemy without a blow.
-Chinese Proverb
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Virtue
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With virtue you can't be entirely poor; without virtue you can't really be rich.
-Chinese Proverb
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Will, Willpower
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Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes.
-Chinese Proverb
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Wisdom
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A single conversation across the table with a wise man is worth a month's study of books.
-Chinese Proverb
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Beauty is the wisdom of women. Wisdom is the beauty of men.
-Chinese Proverb
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Deep doubts, deep wisdom; small doubts, little wisdom.
-Chinese Proverb
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Words
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If you wish to know the mind of a man, listen to his words.
-Chinese Proverb
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Work
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A man grows most tired while standing still.
-Chinese Proverb
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Do not employ handsome servants.
-Chinese Proverb
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If you suspect a man, don't employ him, and if you employ him, don't suspect him.
-Chinese Proverb
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Worry
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When we have nothing to worry about we are not doing much, and not doing much may supply us with plenty of future worries.
-Chinese Proverb
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Books by and about Chinese Proverb
