Page:Gems of Chinese literature (1922).djvu/297

 MISCELLANEOUS. [ proverbial philosophy of the Chinese is on a scale commensurate in every way with other branches of their voluminous literature. Most Western proverbs, maxims, household words, etc., are to be found embedded therein; sometimes expressed in strictly identical terms, at other times differing only in point of local colour. Thus the Chinese say (e.g.)―

with the faults of others as gently as with your own. Three men’s strength cannot prevail against Truth. If you bow at all, bow low. Pay attention to what a man is, not to what he has been. A man thinks he knows, but a woman knows better. If Fortune smiles,―who doesn’t? If Fortune doesn’t,―who does? The host is happy when the guest has gone. No medicine is as good as a middling doctor. Great truths cannot penetrate rustic ears. Better to jilt than be jilted: better to sin than to be sinned against. [This was a mot of the great and unscrupulous general, Ts‘ao Ts‘ao. It is in no sense a Chinese household word.] A bottle-nosed man may be a teetotaller, but no one will think so. Like climbing a tree to catch a fish [Mencius]. “Forbearance” is a rule of life in a word. With money you can move the Gods; without it, you can’t move a man. Oblige, and you will be obliged. Armies are maintained for years, to be used on a single day. 