Instead of gazing at fish by the deep pool, step back and weave a net.
临渊羡鱼，不如退而结网。
Traditional saying, quoted by Dong Zhongshu in Xian Liang Ce Yi, paragraph Gu ren you yan yue
Traditional Chinese Proverbs
@chineseproverbs · 4 excerpts
One mis‑step makes a thousand‑year regret; turn back again and a hundred years have passed.
一失足成千古恨，再回头已百年身。
Traditional saying, attested in Lan Hua Meng, chapter 62, Daoist speech to Baozhu
When blessing arrives the mind grows bright; when calamity comes the spirit grows dim.
福至心灵，祸来神昧。
Traditional Chinese proverb; Tong Su Bian, chapter 10, entry 福至心靈 (records the variant 福到心靈，禍來神昧).
Better gain through straight means than seek through crooked ones.
宁向直中取，不向曲中求。
Traditional saying, attested in Can Tang Wu Dai Shi Yan Yi Zhuan (殘唐五代史演義傳), chapter 9, in fictional speech of Jiang Shang; variant also in Feng Shen Yan Yi, chapter 23.