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Q: Anyone have a favorite Chinese saying?
It occurs to me that there's some pretty profound, powerful poetry in Chinese history. Does anyone have a favorite saying? Doesn't matter if it was invented yesterday, or 500000 years ago.
An old wise man, whom we will simply call K. Zi, or Kong Z. to preserve his anonymity, once said:
Go to bed with an itchy butt, wake-up with a stinky finger
人山人海 （people mountain people sea) because it makes me think of orgies~
"Ride your horse and smell the flowers" or so I thought. Just asked google and got back that it means "getting a superficial understanding by taking a quick glance"..... and here I was gonna contrast it to driving recklessly while honking. Oh well, that is one less positive thing about China.
Hulk:
I dunno why, but I just pictured Anakin Skywalker horsing around on Naboo... in the gayest way possible.
"The first bird that flies away becomes the hunter's aim." or "Cut off the rooster's head to warn the chicken." Those should be the motto's of my last employer.
Theres a lot of choices but Ill go with Deng Xiaoping:
不管黑貓白貓，捉到老鼠就是好貓
Hulk:
Upvote for that one.
"It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, so as long as it catches mice."
"I must go now, I have something urgent".
That saying is music to my ears when said by certain Chinese people!
"I'd rather betray the whole world than let the world betray me." 
君子求诸己,小人求诸人. Basically means a great man depends on himself first while a lesser man is quick to run to people for aid in times of trouble.
"Perfect people have no self, spiritual people have no accomplishment, and sagely people have no name."
"Rewards and punishments are the lowest form of education."
"Using a point to show that a point is not a point is not as good as using a nonpoint to show that a point is not a point."
"The mountain trees bring about their own demises [by being useful], burning oil exhausts itself in fire [when people use it in oil lamp]. The fruits of the cinnamon tree can be eaten, hence the trees are cut down; the varnish tree is useful, hence incisions are made in it. Everyone knows the usefulness of being useful, but no one knows the usefulness of being useless."
"Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words. Where can I find someone who's forgotten words so I can have a word with him?..."
"Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness"
Zhuangzi 莊子, about 300 BC, green anarchist and anti-confucean philosopher.
I wish people like him would have weighted more in Chinese culture.
coineineagh:
I'm pretty sure a good number of locals have embraced "the usefulness of being useless". You can find them working in the service industry everywhere, noses-to-phones, being trememdously unhelpful.
DrMonkey:
Wow, great pick ! Never heard of Zhuangzi, thanks to bring him in the light. The usefulness of being useless sounds horrible, if applied to a human society. If everybody applies it to self, then nothing gets ever done. If a group of people applies this motto, they can pretty much live on the back of those trying to be useful.
RiriRiri:
I think his "usefullness of uselessness" is supposed to mean people should back off once in a while and enjoy things even for no profitability. Like the early version of having a hobby. Yet another thing today's China lacks.
That's how I chose to see it, but don't forget the guy is a hardcore anarchist, as in full autonomy of people. To me at least, it doesn't get better than Zhuangzi in 2300 years.
There are a someI like:
- Kill the monkey to scare the chicken.
- When a man ascends to heaven he brings all his sheep and ducks with him.
Basically means when a man moves into a position of power, all his friends and family benefit from that power.
- I would rather cry in the back of a BMW than laugh on the back of your bicycle.
Uttered by a woman on a Chinese dating show. I just found that it shows the true character of urban modern China.
- You must beat your children and wife thrice a week to make sure they don't not make outrageous demands.
Said by the great Confucius, pretty much why domestic abuse is never really handled by cops here and how the public doesn't see it as negatively as in the West
- Good Good Study, Everyday Up Up
Taught to all school children, and the first phrase I learned in Chinese.
DrMonkey:
On domestic abuse, I still did not recovered from hearing "If you hear neighbor beating his wife to the pulp, you should not intervene, it's none of your business". And objecting to this, arguing that it's the door wide open to abuse... Fierce look, angry talk, and lecture on why intervening is the root of all evil.
Robk:
@amjed - Yeah that's probably correct, but in all honestly... I think in China both get killed and eaten and everyone is scared (without money or guanxi).
@DrMonkey - I used to think Confucius was cool but the more I hear his philosophy the more I think he was just a ass that said a few good things to sound wise and then threw in his own crap to screw people up lol.
Ni bu niao wo, wo bu niao ni.
You no bird me, I no bird you.
It basically means: "Mind your own beeswax."
上善若水。 The highest level of ethics is like water，which is beneficial for all things, without striving for fame and gain.
"lao niu chi nen cao": Old cow eats the young grass
Basically 'Cougars': An older woman after the younger men !! Brilliant
jetfire9000:
BTW this doesn't seem to be gender specific. It could be old men-young girls, or also even old men and young boys :D
maywood87:
Yea your right actually, no gender given in the sentence... im just going by what a couple chinese friends told me. Either way, always good to hear an expression as such haha
