number and excellence of their proverbial sayings--but they have a
practice of adorning their reception rooms with these sententious
bits of wisdom, inscribed on decorated scrolls or embroidered on rich
crapes and brocades. They carve them on door-posts and pillars, and
emblazon them on the walls and ceilings in gilt letters. The following
are a few specimens of this sort of literature: As a sneer at the
use of unnecessary force to crush a contemptible enemy, they say:
"He rides a fierce dog to catch a lame rabbit." Similar to this is
another, "To use a battle-ax to cut off a hen's head." They say of
wicked associates: "To cherish a bad man is like nourishing a tiger;
if not well-fed he will devour you." Here are several others mingling
wit with wisdom: "To instigate a villain to do wrong is like teaching
a monkey to climb trees;" "To catch fish and throw away the net,"
which recalls our saying, "Using the cat's paw to pull the chestnuts
out of the fire;" "To climb a tree to catch a fish" is to talk much
to no purpose; "A superficial scholar is a sheep dressed in a tiger's
skin;" "A cuckoo in a magpie's nest," equivalent to saying, "he is
enjoying another's labor without compensation;" "If the blind lead
the blind they will both fall into the pit;" "A fair wind raises no
storm;" "Vast chasms can be filled, but the heart of man is never
satisfied;" "The body may be healed, but the mind is incurable;" "He
seeks the ass, and lo! he sits upon him;" "He who looks at the sun is
dazzled; he who hears the thunder is deafened." i.e., do not come too
near the powerful; "Prevention is better than cure;" "Wine and good
dinners make abundance of friends, but in adversity not one of them is
to be found." "Let every man sweep the snow from before his own door,
and not trouble himself about the frost on his neighbor's tiles." The
following one is a gem of moral wisdom: "Only correct yourself on the
same principle that you correct others, and excuse others on the same
principles on which you excuse yourself." "Better not be, than be