Proverbs
A person goes about his/her life thinking that he/she is somebody
An expression to describe the idea that everyone believes they are better than others.
One doesn't even find it hard when one enjoys doing it
An expression to describe the idea that one enjoys doing something challenging if it is what one wants to do.
One's journey toward death is thirty six thousand kilometers
An expression meaning one has a lot of days to live.
A person who knows his/her enemy as well as himself/herself will win every single battle in one hundred battles
You will always win in a fight if you know yourself as well as your enemy.
parting upon becoming attached
An expression used to describe a situation where two people part soon after they meet each other.
exercise even the strength that was used to suckle the breast of one's mother
To devote all of one's energy and strength.
have something undone by one's own trick; The biter is bitten; Many go for wool and come home shorn
To be cheated by one's own trick that was devised to cheat someone.
irrigate one's own rice paddy
An expression to describe the attitude of doing something only to one's own advantage.
You cannot pass your habit on to a dog
An expression meaning a bad habit that was acquired is hard to break.
peel and eat one's own flesh; Cut off one's nose to spite one's face; Curses, like chickens, come home to roost
An expression meaning what one has done boomerangs and does harm to oneself.
One's own nose is three feet long; have one's own fish to fry
An expression used to describe a situation where one's own business is so urgent and difficult that one cannot afford to help others.
be interested in the rice offered rather than an ancestral rite
To be interested in benefits from something without doing it sincerely.
as if enshrining one's ancestral tablet
An expression used to describe the attitude of a person who cherishes and respects something dearly.
be slapped across the face in Jongno, give a sidelong scowl in Hangang River; go home and kick the dog
To not immediately react to the humiliation from someone and grumble behind him/her afterwards.
be slapped across the face in Jongno, and give a sidelong scowl in Hangang River; go home and kick the dog
To vent one's resentment toward someone or something on someone else or something else that is irrelevant.
A piece of paper is easier to carry when lifted up by two people
Cooperation makes an easy task much easier.
Your ears will be fed up with a good song if it is repeated three times
Even something good will feel wearisome if prolonged or repeated.
Strangers when a good thing happens, and relatives when a bad thing happens
An expression used to describe a situation where a person contacts his/her relatives only when things go wrong while being neglectful of them when things go well.
Positive expectations tend to miss the mark while negative expectations tend to hit the mark
An expression used to describe a feeling that a positive divination sign or hunch will prove wrong while a negative one will prove correct.
You cannot live with a guilty conscience
An expression meaning you should not commit a crime or sin because the sense of guilt will distress you and make you ask forgiveness for what you have already done.
be unable to eat tteok, rice cake, that falls into one's lap
To lose something that one deserves as one is foolish.