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Jade must be carved and polished before it becomes an ornament, man must be educated before he can achieve great things.
Lit: idem. |
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A child's words have no guile.
Lit: Similar to: "from the mouths of babes." |
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Good wine needs no bush.
Lit: When you have musk, you will automatically have fragrance. /Good stuff need not be advertised, they advertise themselves. |
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The longer you wait, the more unexpected developments may occur.
Lit: Lots of dreams can occur over a long night. |
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yuǎn 远 shuì 水 bù 不 néng 能 jiù 救 jìn 近 huǒ 火 |
Urgent local problems cannot be solved by distant resources.
Lit: You cannot fight a fire with water from far away. |
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gǒu 狗 kǒu 口 bù 不 chū 出 xiàng yá 象牙 |
Nice words won't come from a bad source.
Lit: Elephant tusks cannot grow out of a dog's mouth. |
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Truth will out.
Lit: Paper cannot wrap up a fire. You cannot cover up a scandal easily. |
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tiān xià 天下 wū yā 乌鸦 yī yàng 一样 hēi 黑 |
In the whole world, all crows are black.
Lit: All crows are of the same colour (black) under the sky./ Crime (corruption, graft, favouritism, nepotism etc...) is the same everywhere. |
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wéi 为 rén 人 bù 不 zuò 作 kuī xīn 亏心 shì 事， yè bàn 夜半 qiāo mén 敲门 yě 也 bù 不 jīng 惊 |
Do right and fear no man.
Lit: If you have a clear conscience, you won't worry about a knock on your door at night. |
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There is a black sheep in every fold.
Lit: There are always some dead wood within a large organization. Big trees have rotten branches and large clans have beggars. |
