"Nihon-no-kotowaza"
Japanese Proverbs and Idioms
(http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/5623/kotowjis.html)
"Hotoke no kao mo san do"
Literal: Buddha's face too three times.
Meaning: To try the patience of a saint, even a Buddha's face will loose it's composure if asked something too many times.
"Ryooyaku kuchi ni nigashi"
Literal: Good medicine tastes bitter in the mouth.
Meaning: Good advice is often unpleasant and difficult to accept. Sometimes the bitter truth is the best medicine.
"Sumeba miyako"
Literal: If residing, capital/metropolis.
Meaning: Wherever you live, you come to love it.
"Deru kugi wa utareru"
Literal: the nail which sticks out will get hammered.
"Neko ni koban"
Literal: a gold coin to a cat.
Meaning: don't offer things to a person incapable of appreciating them.
"Onna sannin yoreba kashimashii"
Meaning: wherever three women gather it is noisy.
"Neko no hitai no you na"
Literal: like a cat's forehead.
Meaning: when referring to a very small room.
"Toranu tanuki no kawa zan'you"
Literal: count the skins of racoons which haven't been caught.
Meaning: don't count your chickens before they've hatched.
"Nou aru taka wa tsume wo kakusu"
Literal: the hawk with talent hides its talons.
Meaning: a wise person keeps some talents in reserve; the person who knows most often says least.
"Ningen banji saiou ga uma"
Literal: humans everything Saiou horse.
Meaning: All human affairs are like Saiou's horse; what at first appears to be good luck turns out to be bad luck and vise versa.
(From a Chinese folk tale about an old man called Sai. One day his horse ran away. His neighbours commiserated with him over his misfortune, but Sai said "How do you know this is not really good luck?". A few days later the horse returned, bringing another horse with it. His neighbours congratulated him on his good luck, the old man said "How do you know this is really good luck?" Some while later Sai's son while riding the horse falls and breaks his leg. This was good fortune when all the men of the village are ordered to join the Emperor's army. Sai's son doesn't have to go since he has a broken leg.)
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"Shita Ga Ue"
Literal: Being low is being high.
Meaning: The lower a man's status is, the higher the person should be regarded.
(by EE(E) Reporter)
(Also, the more a woman has misfortune, the more she is loved by the God.)
"...Because They Did Not Understand the Real Meaning of the Feeding of the Five Thousand..."