＜た＞
大器晩成。 Late
fruit keeps well. *
A late bloomer. ***
大は小を兼ねる。 The greater
embraces[includes] the lesser.
大同小異。 Much the same.
大事の前の小事。 We must make a small sacrifice for a great cause.
高値の花。 It’s a prize beyond my reach.
宝の持ち腐れ。 Fools
live poor, to die rich. *
他山の石 An object lesson. ***
蛇足（を付けるな） Leave
well enough alone. #
タダほど高いものはない。 You never get something for nothing. ***
立つ鳥は後を濁さず。 Cast
no dirt in the well that gives you water. ・
たとえ火の中水の中。Come hell or high water. ***
たで食う虫も好き好き。There
is no accounting for tastes.
棚から牡丹餅。 Rare luck. Windfall.
旅の恥はかき捨て。 Leave
one’s
sense of shame at home. ***
旅は道ずれ世は情け。 On
the road you need a companion, in life you need sympathy.***
When shared, joy is doubled and sorrow halved.
食べるために生きず、生きるために食べろ。Live not to eat, but eat to live.
便りのないのは、よい便り。No news is good news.
短気は損気。Haste
is waste.
Anger punishes itself. *
団結は力なり。 Union is strength。
＜ち＞
知識は力なり。Knowledge
is power.
血は水より濃い。 Blood
is thicker than water. #
ちりも積もれば山となる。 Many a little makes a mickle. *
Many
a pickle makes a mickle.
＜つ＞
角を矯めて牛を殺す。The remedy may be worse than the disease.
罪を憎んで人を憎まず。Condemn the offense, but pity the offender
鶴の一声。 One’s word is law. ***
＜て＞
亭主関白。 Wear
the pants in his family. ***
鉄は熱いうちに打て。 Strike
the iron while it is hot. *
Make hay while the sun shines.
天はみずから助くる者を助く。Heaven helps those who help themselves. *
転石こけむさず。 A
rolling stone gathers no moss. *
天災は忘れたころにやって来る。 Natural disaster happen when we have forgotton all about them.
＜と＞
灯台もと暗し。It’s often difficult to see what is right in front of
your eyes. ***
It is dark at the foot of a
candle. ・
同病相憐れむ。Fellow suffers pity each other.
Misery makes strange bedfellows.
遠くの親戚より近くの他人 Strangers at hand are better than relations afar. ***
捕らぬ狸の皮算用。 Count
not your chickens before they are hatched.
Don't
count your chickens before they are hatched.
It is rush to sell the bird
on the bough. *
年寄りのいうことはめったにはずれない。 As old man's saying are seldom untrue.
時は金なり。Time
is money.
隣の芝生は青い。The
neighbor's lawn is green.
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.#
毒をもって毒を制す。Poison
drives out poison
Meet evil with
evil.
Set a chief to catch a thief.
毒くわば皿まで。 One
may as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb. *
友を見れば人物が分かる。 A man may be known by the company he keeps. *
A
man is known by the company he keeps.
虎の威を借りる。 He is just an
ass in a lion’s skin.
取り越し苦労は身の毒。 Care killed the cat.
泥棒をとらえて縄をなうな。 Tt’s too
late to shate the stable-door when the steed is stolen.
飛んで火にいる夏の虫、 The fly flutters about the candle till at last it getsburned.
*