South Korean Proverbs

Enjoy dozens of witty and insightful South Korean proverbs and idioms that have been passed down from one generation to the next for hundreds of years!

• Useful trees are cut down first.
• A hunter’s knife cannot carve its own handle.
• Worrying is your destiny.
• Catch not at the shadow, and lose the substance.
• A physician’s neighbor is never a doctor.
• The bull that is used to the sun shivers by the light of the moon.
• You will hate a beautiful song if you sing it often.
• If you kick a stone in anger, you’ll hurt your own foot.
• Wise men philosophize as the fools live on.
• Put off for one day and ten days will pass by.
• Cross even a stone bridge after you’ve tested it.
• A kitchen knife cannot carve its own handle.
• To begin is to be half done.
• Even if you encounter a stone bridge, tap it first before crossing.
• One moment is worth more than a thousand gold pieces.
• A fish wouldn’t get into trouble if it kept its mouth shut.
• A day-old pigeon cannot fly over a mountain pass.
• The frog forgets that he was once a tadpole.
• Try to run before you can crawl.
• If a pedestrian sees a horse he will want to ride it.
• Cast no dirt into the well that gives you water.
• Even children of the same mother look different.
• Even the moon wanes when it is full.
• Entrust the cat with a fish.
• You scratch where it itches.
• Man’s mind changes throughout the course of a day.
• Tall branches are apt to be broken.
• Remember, even monkeys fall out of trees.
• When you have three daughters, you sleep with the door open.
• Virginity can be lost in one night.
• A turtle can only get on it by sticking its neck out.
• Even a sheet of paper is lighter when two people lift it.
• If you want a well, only dig in one place.
• If you starve for three days, there is no thought that does not invade your imagination.
• Even honey can taste bitter if it’s used as medicine.
• It is a bad plowman that quarrels with his ox.
• A sheet of paper is lighter if two of you don’t try to carry it.
• Put something off for one day, and ten days will pass.
• A great river does not refuse any small streams.
• Birds hear the words spoken in the day, and the mice those at night.
• The deeper the waters are, the more still they run.
• Three years will eradicate even murderous thoughts.
• Carve the peg by looking at the hole.
• The thief hates the moon. The thief hates the moon.
• If there is a rich man in the area three villages are ruined.
• Another person’s rice cake looks big.
• Even though words have no wings, they can still fly a thousand miles.
• Cast not pearls to swine.
• Man’s extremity, God’s opportunity.
• Butterflies come to pretty flowers.

For thousands more proverbs and words of wisdom, collected from over 40 countries, check out Proverbs from Around the World!