Quotes and Proverbs


Taiwanese Proverbs

It takes sweat to work, but only saliva to criticize.


A husband and wife often fight intensely at one moment and then kiss intensely at the next moment.


A beautiful person might not have a beautiful life.


Some prefer liquor, others prefer tofu, and some even like rotten salmon.


Greed will cause pain.


If someone transports dung and does not eat it, don’t conclude that he is an honest person.


(Charles Maurice de) Talleyrand

(1754-1838) French diplomat

If you wish to appear agreeable in society, you must consent to be taught many things which you know already. (Johann Kaspar Lavater)


Talmud

Live well. It is the greatest revenge.


The sun will set without your assistance.


If your business does not prosper in one town, try another.


It is better to lend than to give. To give employment is better than either.


Cold water, morning and evening, is better than all the cosmetics.


There is a great difference between him who is ashamed before his own self, and him who is only ashamed before others.


Tamil Proverbs

A good husband might have a bad wife, and a bad wife might have a good husband.


When shopping for a cow, make sure the price of the tail is included.


Ryoko Tamura

(1975-) judo champion

I don’t agree with the idea that you have to live in a bubble and sacrifice all your time to something if you want to succeed. I need to be interested in things outside my sport, and I need to meet new people. For me, judo is an expression of the harmony I achieve in my life.


Amazon.com Books of the Month

Tanzanian Proverbs

A person who is not disciplined cannot be cautioned.


Little by little, a little becomes a lot.


Help me during the flood, and I will help you during the drought.



Alfred, Lord Tennyson

(1809–1892) poet

Men may rise on stepping-stones of their dead selves to higher things.


‘Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all.


The folly of all follies is to be love sick for a shadow.


Blind and naked ignorance delivers brawling judgments, unashamed, on all things all day long.


Terence

(195 BC–159 BC) playwright, humorist

Obsequiousness begets friends; truth, hatred.


Shoot not beyond the mark.


To disregard money on suitable occasions is often a great profit.


It is possible for someone to be changed so much by love that he will hardly be recognized as being the same person.


St. Teresa of Avila

(1515-1582) nun, writer, and mystic

From moment to moment one can bear much.


Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life. … If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing.


Mother Teresa

(1910-1997) humanitarian

The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted.


Thai Proverbs

The sweetness of food doesn’t last long, but the sweetness of good words do.


Thomson

Real glory Springs from the silent conquest of ourselves,

And without that the conqueror is nought

But the first slave


Henry David Thoreau

(1817-1862) writer, philosopher, and naturalist

To the sick the doctors wisely recommend a change of air and scenery. (Walden)


We are constantly invited to be who we are.


Knowledge does not come to us in details, but in flashes of light from heaven


Tibetan Proverbs

Who can say for sure that one will live to see tomorrow?


Landing a single punch on your enemies nose is more satisfying than hearing well-intentioned advice from your elders.


Spreading the news is also multiplying it.


Paul Tournier

(1898-1986) doctor who developed a psychiatric method he termed “medicine of the person”

Most illnesses do not, as is generally thought, come like a bolt out of the blue. The ground is prepared for years through faulty diet, intemperance, overwork, and moral conflicts, slowly eroding the subject’s vitality.


Donald J. Trump

(1946-) real estate mogul

Sometimes your best investments are the ones you don’t make.


Tunisian Proverbs

If you see someone riding a bamboo-cane, tell him “What a lovely horse!”

[Allow others to enjoy their own fantasies]


Better to blush than to keep the concern in your heart.


The enemy of your belly: 40 years.


Call someone “master,” and he’ll sell you at an auction.


Those who flee from taxes and rent flee from selling and buying.


He who builds a mill must also have a bell.


Better to wait patiently [for the real] than rush into a thing of illusion.


A thirsty person will accept polluted water.


In dealing with a powerful person, either be nice to him, avoid him, or allow him to speak without answering him.


You hate me, but God will remember me.


Pretend you are crazy, and you will survive.


By telling the truth, your head will be cracked.


A bad year will pass; a bad mind will not pass.


Though I am rich, I still enjoy receiving gifts.


Everyone lives—the person with one coat, the person with two, and even the person with none.


When somebody comes to you and shows you respect, serve him your dinner and make his bed.



Turkish Proverbs

If the time does not suit you, suit yourself to the time.


Baghdad is not remote for a lover.


Few deserve a happy life.


One eats while another watches—that is how revolutions are begun.


Death is a black camel that lies down at every door. Sooner or later you must ride the camel.


There is not a single season without fruit.


If you search for a faultless woman, you will remain a bachelor.


Mark Twain

(1835-1910) writer

When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained. )


The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.

Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits.


He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it—namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.


The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.


That impressive silence, that eloquent silence, that geometrically progressive silence which often achieves a desired effect where no combination of words howsoever felicitous could accomplish it.


Mike Tyson

(1966-) heavyweight boxer

I’m Mike Tyson, and there is no one like me.


Everyone has a game plan until you get hit in the mouth.


Am I an animal? If necessary—it depends on what situation am I in…


Home | Next →