When the cat is away, the mice will play.
Well kens the mouse that the cat is out of the house.
Where there ae no dogs the fox is a king.
山中无老虎，猴子称大王。紫貂不在，黑貂骄傲。
Sables feel proud in the absence of ermine.
上帝总是站在强者一边。
Providence is always on the side of the big / strongest battalions.
舍不得羊，套不着狼。
An empty hand is no lure for a hawk,
Empty hands no hawk allure（诱惑力）.
失去了方知可贵。
We never know the value / worth of water till the well is dry.
When the well is dry, they know the worth of water.
We know not what is good until we have lost it.
When a thing is lost, its worth is known.
失之东隅，收之桑榆。此失彼得。
Get in the shire what on loses in the hundred.
We lose in hake（狗鳕）, but we gain in herring（鲱鱼）.
What is lost in the hundred will be found in the shire.
What is won in the hundred will be lost in the shire.
What you lose on the swings you get back / make on the roundabouts（绕道）
What one loses on the swings one gains on the roundabouts.
十全十美的事物根本不存在。
There was never a good town but had a mire（泥潭）at one end of it.
实践出真知。
Practice is the best master.
实事求是。
Seek the truth from facts.
实用就是一切。实用至上。
Use is everything.
世上无绝对的坏事。
It is an ill wind that blows nobody / no man.
世上无绝对一样的事物。
No like is the same.
世上无人坐着轿子上天堂。
There is no going to heaven in a sedan（轿子）.
世上无万能的人。
No living man all things can.
事不过三。
All things thrive at thrice.
殊途同归。条条江河归大海。
All rivers run into the sea.
殊途同归。条条大路通罗马。
All roads lead to Rome.
树大招风。
A tall tree catches much wind.
Detraction pursues the great.
Great winds blow upon high hills.
Loftiest trees most dread the thunder.
Many wells, many buckets.
Oaks may fall when reeds stand / brave the storm.
Tall trees catch much wind.
The higher the tree, the stronger the wind.
The low stake stands long.
树倒猢狲散。船沉鼠先窜。
Rats leave / desert / forsake a sinking ship.
Rats desert a falling house.
水能载舟，亦能覆舟。
The earth that yields food yields also poison.
The fire which lights us at a distance will burn us when near.
The knife cuts bread and fingers.
The same heat that melts the wax will harden the clay.
The spear of Achilles could both wound and heal.
The water that bears the boat is the same that swallows it up.
Water is a boon in the desert, but the drowning man curses it.
Water is as dangerous as commodious（方便的）.
Many drops of water will sink a ship.
水至清则无鱼。
A clear stream is avoided by fish.
谁都先为自己着想。
The parson（教区长）always christens（命名）his own child first.
说来容易做来难，许诺容易履行难。
Talking is easier than doing, and promising than performing.
顺应自然方能征服自然。
Nature is conquered / governed by obeying her.
死人不会上当。
The dead don’t bite（上当）.
损失使人谨慎。
Lost make us more cautious.
体积越大，摔得越重。
The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
头发再细也有影子。再小的事情也有影响。
No hair so small but has his shadow.
同行是冤家。
Potter is jealous of potter, and craftsman of craftsman; and poor man has a grudge against poor man, and poet against poet.
Two cats and a mouse, two wives in one house, two dogs and a bone, never agree in one.
Two dogs over one bone seldom agree.
Two of a trade can never agree.
Two of a trade seldom agree.
同类不相残。
One crow never pulls out another’s eye.
同类也有差别。
There may be blue and better blue.
同性相斥，异性相吸。
Opposite poles attract, like poles repel.
兔子不吃窝边草。
The fox preys farthest from his hole.
外表和实际往往不一致。
Things are not always what they seem.
万事皆可补救，唯独死亡不能。
There is a remedy for all things / everything but death.
万事皆有始。
Everything must have a beginning.
Rivers need a spring.
万事开头难。
All beginnings are hard.
All things are difficult before they are easy.
Beginning is always hard.
Each goodly thing is hard to begin.
Every beginning is hard / difficult.
It is the first step that is troublesome / costs.
The first step is the only difficulty.
The greatest step is that out of doors.
伟大与渺小相得益彰。
The great and the little have need one of another.
我们先养成习惯，然后习惯又左右我们。
We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.
无根则无果。
No root, no fruit.
无火不冒烟，无风不起浪。
No fire without smoke.
There is no fire without some smoke.
No smoke without fire.
There is no smoke without fire.
Everything has its seed.
From nothing, nothing can come.
Nothing comes out of the sack but what was in it.
Nothing is stolen without hands.
There’s something in the wind.
Where there’s reek, there’s heat.
Where there is smoke, there is fire.
Whose fire smokes not?
无所求则无所获。
Nothing crave, nothing have.
无因必无果。
Take away the cause and the effect must cease.
物当其时，各有佳期。
There is a time for everything / all things.
物极必反。
Extremes are dangerous.
Extremes meet.
No extreme will hold long.
Over fast over loose.
Over sicker（安全的）over loose（不牢）.
Overdoing is doing nothing to purpose.
Overdone is worse than undone.
Things at the worst will mend.
When things are at their worst, they will mend.
物极必反，盛极必衰。
A flow will have an ebb.
Every flow has its ebb.
After high floods low ebbs.
The highest flood has the lowest ebb.
Too much water drowned the miller.
Too much is as bad as too little.
Too far east is west.
Too much pudding will choke a dog.
物以类聚，人以群分。
A donkey looks beautiful to a donkey.
A man may be known by the company he keeps.
A thief knows a thief as a wolf knows a wolf.
Birds of a feather flock together.
Congenial（意气相投的）minds are disposed to associate（伙伴）.
Let beggars match with beggars.
Like and like make good friends.
Like attract like.
Like draws to like.
Like likes like.
Like to like.
Like will draw like.
Tell me your company and I will tell you what you are.
Things of a kind come together; people of a kind fall into the same group.
物以稀为贵。
Less is more.
Seldom comes a better.
That thing which is rare is dear.
The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it.
When the fruit is scarcest, its taste is sweetest.
先赢不一定全局赢。
Win at first and lose at last.
昔日偶然事，其实也有规律性。
Where they saw chance, we see law.
习惯成自然。
It is nothing when you are used to it.
细水长流。
Soft pace goes far.
Soft and fair goes far journeys.
下山容易上山难。
It is easier to descend than to ascend.
It is easier to fall than to rise.
It is easy to bowl down hill.
It is easy to run down the hill than go up.
先入为主。
First impressions are most lasting.
先入为主。酒桶常留原装的酒味。
The cask savors of the first fill.
现实从来就不能满足愿望。
Wishes never can fill a sack.
现实是不依人们意志为转移的。
You cannot make a crab walk straight.
相形见拙。日出星隐。小巫见大巫。
Stars are not seen by sunshine.
小人得志必行恶。
Set a beggar on horseback and he’ll ride to the devil.
薪尽火自灭。
Take away fuel, take away flame.
信任所有的人和怀疑所有的人同样都是缺点。
It is an equal failing to trust everybody and to trust nobody.
需要是发明之母。
Necessity is the mother of invention.
言多易失。