Vietnamese Proverbs
A day in prison is longer than a thousand years at large.
A day of travelling will bring a basketful of learning.
A good name is better than good habits.
All cats are gray in the dark.
Better a wise man’s servant than an idiot’s master.
Better to die than to live on with a bad reputation.
Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet.
Don’t set the attic on fire just because you didn’t catch any mice.
Elephants are killed for their ivory, birds for their feathers.
Giving just a crumb to the hungry is worth more than giving lunch to the satisfied.
Happy hours are very short.
He wanted to cure a healthy pig and ended up with a sick one.
If you hold high office, the whole village will share your fame.
If you want to eat pickled herring, think about the thirst you will have.
If you want to gather a lot of knowledge, act as if you are ignorant.
If you want to travel fast use the old roads.
Life is a temporary stop, death is the journey home.
Men made money; money never made men.
Never forget benefits done you, regardless how small.
Nice words are free, so choose ones that please another’s ears.
Nice words are free, so choose ones that please another’s ears.
No rain without clouds.
Old foxes want no tutor.
One often gets what one disdains.
People live with their own idiosyncrasies and die of their own illnesses.
People say that time goes by; time says that the people go by.
Receive a plum, return a peach.
Strong wood is worth more than painted wood.
Sun is for cucumbers, rain for rice.
The army is the poison and the people are the water in which the poison is mixed.
The bird that escapes from its cage never wants to come back.
The buffalo that arrive late will have to drink muddy water and eat dried grass.
The chained buffalo doesn’t enjoy grazing.
The crane was killed by the fishhook.
The dog will always attack the one with torn trousers.
The higher you climb, the heavier you fall.
The human tongue is more poisonous than a bee’s sting.
The mouth prays to Buddha, but the heart is full of evil.
The rich become deaf and the mighty blind.
The rich worry over their money, the poor over their bread.
There is no ivory in the mouth of a dog.
There is one fish in the pond, and ten anglers on the bank.
Venture all; see what fate brings.
Victory makes you into an emperor, defeat into a rebel.
When eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the tree.
When husband and wife live in harmony, they can dry up the ocean without a bucket.
When the cat’s away the mouse sits on its throne.
When the father has eaten too much salt in his lifetime, then his son thereafter will have a great thirst.
When the pain has passed one forgets the medicine.
When the tree falls, any child can climb it.
Where life is exhausted, death comes.
You cannot breathe through another man’s nose.
Young bamboo trees are easy to bend.
Source: proverbatim.com
Other links:
Tanzanian Proverbs
Swiss Proverbs
Swedish Proverbs
Swahili Proverbs
Sudanese Proverbs
