Some more famous ancient Chinese sayings are:
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.
To believe in one’s dreams is to spend all of one’s life asleep
Do not use a hatchet to remove a fly from your friend’s forehead.
To attract good fortune, spend a new coin on an old friend, share an old pleasure with a new friend, and lift up the heart of a true friend by writing his name on the wings of a dragon.
Mankind fears an evil man but heaven does not.
An ant may well destroy a whole dam.
Crows everywhere are equally black.
Distant water won’t help to put out a fire close at hand.
Distant water won’t quench your immediate thirst.
Do not want others to know what you have done? Better not have done it anyways.
Donkey’s lips do not fit onto a horse’s mouth.
Dream different dreams while on the same bed.
Fail to steal the chicken while it ate up your bait grain.
Flies never visit an egg that has no crack.
A good fortune may forbode a bad luck, which may, in turn, disguise a good fortune.
Have a mouth as sharp as a dagger but a heart as soft as tofu.
A horse cannot gain weight if not fed with extra fodder during the night; a man cannot become wealthy without earnings apart from his regular salaries.
An inch of time is an inch of gold but you can’t buy that inch of time with an inch of gold.
It is easy to dodge a spear that comes in front of you but hard to keep harms away from an arrow shot from behind.
Kill one to warn a hundred.
The longer the night lasts, the more our dreams will be.
Once by a snake, he/she is scared all his/her life at the mere sight of a rope.
One cannot refuse to eat just because there is a chance of being choked.
Only when all contribute their firewood can they build up a strong fire.
Regular feet can’t be affected by irregular shoes.
Shed no tears until seeing the coffin.
A smile will gain you ten more years of life.
A sly rabbit will have three openings to its den.
There are always ears on the other side of the wall.
Vicious as a Tigeress can be, she never eats her own cubs.
Waiting for a rabbit to hit a tree and be killed in order to catch it.
When you are poor, neighbors close by will not come; once you become rich, you’ll be surprised by visits from (alleged) relatives afar.
Without rice, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook.
You can’t catch a cub without going into the tiger’s den.
You think you lost your horse? Who knows, he may bring a whole herd back to you someday.
You can’t expect both ends of a sugar cane are as sweet.
Your fingers can’t be of the same length.
Age and time do not wait for people.
A bird in your hand is worth more than 100 in the forest.
Giving your son a skill is better than giving him one thousand pieces of gold.
Once a word leaves your mouth, you cannot chase it back even with the swiftest horse.
To cultivate trees, you need 10 years. To cultivate people, you need 100 years.
Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come.
Pray to God, but keep rowing toward(s) the shore.
Not the cry, but the flight of the wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow.
One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade.
An ant may well destroy a whole dam.
A book holds a house of gold.
Butcher the donkey after it finished his job on the mill.
A camel standing amidst a flock of sheep.