Asian Quotes as Creative Writing Prompts to Use Today

Asian Quotes – Creative Writing Prompts

from Peggy Dallmann
Asian quotes may spark an idea for your own writing. Sometimes, while reading fiction or nonfiction, I will read a phrase, a sentence, or a quote from a famous person.

I feel compelled to record those words immediately into a computer folder entitled “Inspirational Quotes.”

Many times, those same words spark an idea that may evolve into a short story, novel or essay.

Some of the “inspirational quotes” that I have gathered over the years include words of wisdom passed down through history.

My data file of quotes includes several proverbs—many from the Bible’s book of Proverbs.

Other proverbs are those that have been passed down by different cultures and ethnic groups.

In recent years I have been drawn to the proverbs of Southeast Asia, including the Chinese, Japanese and Korean cultures.

Many of those proverbs mean the same as the familiar proverbs of the United States and other English-speaking countries.

The literal translation of the Asian proverbs are sometime more charming or interesting, however, because the word choices reflect the culture of the people who first stated or wrote them down.

The following is a small list of proverbs from Asian countries.

Reflect upon the meaning behind the words, and then choose one or more that kindles an idea for your own stories or articles.

First up are Chinese proverbs:

1. “If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a month, get married. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone else.”

2. “Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.”

3. “Deep doubts, deep wisdom; small doubts, little wisdom.”

Next, here is a small selection of Korean proverbs:

4. “A bean grows where you plant a bean, and a red bean grows where you plant a red bean.”

5. “An empty cart rattles loudly.”

6. “You can’t spit in a smiling face.”

7. “One word pays back a debt of a thousand nyang.”

Then, the wisdom of the Japanese:

8. “The weak are meat; the strong eat.”

9. “Giving birth to a baby is easier than worrying about it.”

10. “A frog in a well does not know the great sea.”

About Peggy Dallmann
Peggy Dallmann worked as a newspaper reporter and editor for a community weekly newspaper in Indianapolis before going to law school. In fact, Peggy excelled as a student while earning her undergraduate journalism degree and law degree. Both degrees were conferred with the Latin honor of magna cum laude.