Food Quotations - Chinese Philosophers/Proverbs
"Anything that walks, swims, crawls, or
flies with its back to heaven is edible."
(Cantonese saying. Source: The Chinese Kitchen by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo)
"He that takes medicine and neglects diet,
wastes the skills of the physician."
(Chinese proverb)
"Enjoy yourself. It's later than you
think."
(Chinese proverb)
"Talk doesn't cook rice."
(Chinese Proverb)
"Better to be deprived of food for three
days, than tea for one."
(Ancient Chinese proverb)
"Governing a great nation is like cooking
a small fish - too much handling will spoil it."
(Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher)
"The way you cut your meat reflects the
way you live."
(Confucius)
"If you are planning for a year, sow rice;
if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate
people ."
(Chinese Proverb)
"To be truly happy and contented, you must
let go of what it means to be happy or content."
(Confucius)
"The superior man does not, even for the
space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue."
(Confucius)
"To the ruler, the people are
heaven; to the people, food is heaven."
(ancient Chinese proverb)
"Tea tempers the spirit, harmonizes the
mind, dispels lassitude and relieves fatigue, awakens the thought and prevents
drowsiness."
(Lu Yu, The Classic Art of Tea)
"Tell me and I'll forget, show me and I
may remember, involve me and I'll understand."
(Chinese proverb)
"Is it not pleasant to learn
with a constant perserverance and application?"
(Confucius)
"He who asks is a fool for 5 minutes, but
he who does not ask remains a fool forever."
(Chinese proverb)
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of
one's ignorance."
(Confucius)
"The honorable and upright man keeps well
away from both the slaughterhouse and the kitchen. And he allows no knives on his
table."
(Confucius)
"Preserve the old, but know the new."
(Chinese Proverb)
"Beneath these green mountains where
spring rules the year, the irbarbutus and loquat in season appear, And feasting on lychee
- 300 a day, I shouldn't mind staying eternally here."
(Su Shih, Chinese poet)
"Many a heavy sigh I heaved in my despair,
Grieving that I was born in such an unlucky time...I yoked a team of jade dragons to a
phoenix-figured car, And waited for the wind to come, to soar up on my journey."
(Qu Yuan, ancient Chinese poet)
"Born to the earth are three
kinds of creatures. Some are winged and fly. Some are furred and run. Still others
stretch their mouths and talk. All must eat and drink to survive."
(Lu Yu, Ancient Chinese Philosopher)
"Coarse rice for food, water to drink, and
the bended arm for a pillow - happiness may be enjoyed even in these."
(Confucius)
"Cutting stalks at noon time, Perspiration
drips to the earth. Know you that your bowl of rice, Each grain from hardship comes?"
(Cheng Chan-Pao, Chinese philosopher)
"Is it not delightful to have friends
coming from distant quarters?"
(Confucius)
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