一念之差終身之悔. \ih nyan° ts tsho tsoong sung ts hwe°/. The evil done in a moment’s thought may entail the repentance of a life time.
一言已出駟馬難追. \Ih yien i tsheh, s° °mo nan tsoe/. When a word has gone forth, four horses cannot overtake it.
一心舉念. \Ih sing °kyui nyan°/. A heart holding one thought; a mind set on one purpose.
一榻糊塗. \Ih thah oo-doo/. Everything in confusion.
吃人碗半, 由人使換喚. \Chuh zung °wen pen°, yeu *zung s° hwen°/. If you eat half a bowl of rice of another man, you thereby are placed under obligations.
*Note that the character for man is pronounced Nyung in the vernacular and Zung in the literary language.
皇天不負苦人心. \Waung Thien peh veu° °khoo zung sing/. Great Heaven never forgets the desire of a person in misery.
敗子回頭金不換. \Ba°-°ts we deu kyung peh wen°/. The repentance of a prodigal is more precious than gold.
推車撞之壁. \The tsho dzaung ts pih/. To wheel the cart against the wall,—equivalent to knock your head against a stone wall.
捨近而求遠. \So° °jung r jeu °yoen/. To forfeit what is near and seek what is far. It implies the folly of giving up the bird in the hand for the bird in the bush.
忘恩負義. \Vaung° ung veu° nyi°/. To forget benefits received.
順風扯旗. \Zung° foong °tsha ji/. To float the flag in the wind. This implies “to follow the crowd,” and applies to a person of weak character.
人心皆同. \Zung sing kya doong/. Human nature is one.
惡有惡報, 善有善報, 若使勿報, 時刻未到. \Auh °yeu auh pau°, °zen yeu °zen pau°, zak-s ’veh pau°, z khuk vi tau°/. Evil has an evil recompense—virtue has a good recompense. If the recompense does not appear, it is because the time has not yet arrived.
冤有頭, 債有生. \Ioen °yeu deu, tsa° °yeu tsu/. Enmity has a source, just as debt has a creditor.
欺人自欺自. \Chi zung z° chi z°/. To cheat others is to cheat oneself.
樹高千丈, 葉落歸根. \Zu° kau tshien °dzang, yih lauh kwe kung/. *Although the tree may be ten thousand feet high, its leaves fall down to the roots.
*This means that all, sooner or later, return to their original homes.
人面獸心. \Zung mien° sen° sing/. He has the face of a man and the heart of an animal.
看死捻鼻頭. \Khoen° °si nyah pih-deu/. To catch hold of the note of a man who is dying. Equivalent to the expression “To hit a man when he is down.”
落水搇. \Lauh °s chung/. To press a drowning man down in the water. This has much the same meaning as the preceding.