Chinese has two proverb traditions: 成语 (four-character classical idioms - covered in the chengyu guide) and 俗语/谚语 - vernacular sayings closer to English proverbs. This is the second set.
The ones you will actually hear
- 入乡随俗 - "enter a village, follow its customs" - when in Rome.
- 熟能生巧 - practice makes perfect; literally "skill grows from familiarity".
- 活到老，学到老 - "live to old age, learn to old age" - the lifelong-learning proverb.
- 在家靠父母，出门靠朋友 - at home rely on parents, abroad rely on friends.
- 失败是成功之母 - failure is the mother of success.
- 三百六十行，行行出状元 - every trade produces its master (360 trades, each with a top graduate).
- 远亲不如近邻 - a close neighbor beats a distant relative.
俗语 vs 成语
Chengyu are fixed four-character capsules from classical texts - frozen history. 俗语 are folk sayings of any length, alive and mutable: people clip, riff and localize them. Both work in speech; chengyu marks literary register, 俗语 marks fluency.
Using them
A well-placed proverb still impresses - native speakers notice the cultural fluency. The honest approach: learn them passively from stories and speech (the story corpus grows proverbs in context) rather than memorizing a list - a proverb you cannot deploy naturally is trivia.
Common questions
What is a famous Chinese proverb?
熟能生巧 (practice makes perfect) and 入乡随俗 (when in Rome) are the ones foreigners can deploy safely; 活到老学到老 is the culture's favorite self-description.
What is the difference between chengyu and proverbs?
Chengyu are fixed four-character classical idioms; 俗语/谚语 are folk sayings of free form and length. Chengyu come from texts, proverbs from speech.
Are Chinese proverbs still used today?
Yes in speech, writing and especially advice contexts - though younger speakers reach for chengyu or internet sayings more than long folk proverbs.