Korean Proverbs, Quotes, and Sayings

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“At the end of hardship comes happiness.”
– Korean Proverb

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“It’s dark under the lamp.”
– Korean Proverb

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“A widower knows a widow’s sorrow.”
– Korean Proverb

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“Clothes are wings.”
– Korean Proverb

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“It’s better to get beaten by the whip first.”
– Korean Proverb

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” Even monkeys fall from trees.”
– Korean Proverb

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“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
– Korean Proverb

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“What looks good tastes good.”
– Korean Proverb

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“Birds hear the words spoken in the day, and mice hear the words spoken at night.”
– Korean Proverb

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“If it is distant from your eyes, it also becomes distant from your mind and heart”
– Korean Proverb

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” If you lift together, it’s better – even if it’s a sheet of paper.”
– Korean Proverb

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“There is always a way out, look for it.”
– Korean Proverb

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“The cornered rat will bite the cat.”
– Korean Proverb

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“You’ll lose the one in your hand, trying to catch the one on the run.”
– Korean Proverb

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“A family of talkers makes bitter sauces.”
– Korean Proverb

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“It takes two hands to clap.”
– Korean Proverb

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“Dawn will come even if the rooster is strangled.”
– Korean Proverb

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Korean Expressions and Sayings

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“It is like a blind man touching an elephant.”
– Korean Expression

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“Laughter is the best healer.”
– Korean Expression

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“You can know a promising tree from when it’s a baby tree.”
– Korean Expression

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“The frog can’t remember the times when he was a tadpole.”
– Korean Expression

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“Ask first then go, even if it’s a road you know.”
– Korean Expression

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“Mountains after mountains.”
– Korean Expression

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“When whales fight a shrimp’s back breaks.”
– Korean Expression

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“It’s like spitting while lying down.”
– Korean Expression

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“Say pretty things to hear pretty things.”
– Korean Expression

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“What you say turns into seeds.”
– Korean Expression

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Korean Proverbs and Sayings

South Korean Museums

Country: Republic of Korea
Korean: 대한민국
Capital: Seoul
Population: 51 million

Korean Language

The Korean language is spoken by about 77 million people. It is the official and national language of both Koreas: North Korea and South Korea.

Modern Korean descends from Middle Korean, which in turn descends from Old Korean, which descends from its linguistic homeland somewhere in Manchuria.

Chinese characters arrived in Korea together with Buddhism during the Proto-Three Kingdoms era in the 1st century BC.

They were adapted for Korean and became known as Hanja, and remained as the main script for writing Korean through over a millennium.

In the 15th century, King Sejong the Great personally developed an alphabetic featural writing system known today as Hangul.

Today, Hanja is largely unused in everyday life due to its inconvenience. Since the Korean War, North-South differences have developed in standard Korean, including variations in pronunciation and vocabulary.