<p>Yes! there is a very close proverb. 养儿防老, it's not said by any known author, but just very commonly used in Chinese daily life.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-02T10:35:07.903Z
+1. Quite close. Better than what I found on the Internet: "教育下一代，幸福一辈子。", "落红不是无情物，化作春泥更护花。", etc. BTW, it's from Song Dynasty 陈元靓's `事林广记`: "养儿防老，积谷防饥"
Stan
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2013-08-02T10:57:46.917Z
I think this is semantically different: it seems to indicate e.g. that children may care for their parents in old age whereas the other proverb indicates e.g. that teaching can be a noble profession.
Drux
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2013-08-02T12:06:35.680Z
@Drux: the problem is, when a proverb is translated to another language, the translator tries to recover the "true" meaning from it. As there would be different understandings/interpretations, the final translation result is sometimes strange to native speakers. I admit, as a native Chinese speaker I felt that proverb quite "Chinese culture style" when seeing the English version you posted, but I cannot recall an exact proverb in Chinese. Personally speaking, this answer would be a good candidate -- though it's not often translated into English like that.
Stan
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2013-08-02T12:38:49.443Z
@Stan actually I think (with the help of Google translate, etc. :) your 教育下一代，幸福一辈子 comes quite close :) If you want to write it up as an answer together with a suitable link to a mixed English/Chinese site or some other reputable Chinese source for confirmation, I'd perhaps accept it :) Thx/谢谢
Drux
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2013-08-02T13:16:23.037Z
@Drux: But I don't believe `教育下一代，幸福一辈子` can be a Chinese proverb. It's more like a promotional banner in countryside.
Stan
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2013-08-02T14:14:44.940Z
@Stan,@Drux. you have good points. It's true we can't really cover all the meaning. 教育下一代，幸福一辈子 is closer indeed, however it's not a proverb in China. If leave the restriction of proverb, there is plenty of phrases.
Yang
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2013-08-02T14:40:02.563Z
@Yang ok & thx. I'll do some more research elsewhere based on this insight.
Drux
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2013-08-02T14:43:52.683Z
well, it's just too difficult for a foreigner to lean Chinese proverbs, it's just toooooooooooooooo much. if you have instant question, I will be glad to help.
Yang
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2013-08-02T16:47:36.037Z
@Yang I didn't quite understand what you meant by "leaving the restriction of proverb". However, if it helps the cause, I'm certainly happy to leave it and look at similar phrases (or quotes) instead. Meanwhile I also hope our moderator's patience does not run out ... :)
Drux
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2013-08-02T18:03:38.013Z
well, it's just the OP said proverb.. I don't think it's necessary.
Yang
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2013-08-03T00:29:22.280Z
@Yang, Note OP is trying to _verify_ the source of the English translation instead of looking for alternative Chinese translations. If none of us native speakers can think of a proverb, we should say 'we couldn't think of it, the English translation might have misinterpreted the original proverb, or it was not from Chinese', which is precise and valid, instead of providing an answer off from the question. (My comment is toward your comment above, not your answer - I think this answer is good.)
NS.X.
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2013-08-03T00:39:24.737Z
@Drux Given Chinese culture and tradition, I don't believe there is a famous old saying that cultivates childcare without selfish causes. If it's indeed from Chinese, it's likely from modern time, in which case it's hard to distinguish proverb from propaganda slogans.
NS.X.
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2013-08-04T06:59:04.190Z
@NS.X. In Chinese when we say next generation, we mainly refer to our children or the children generation of the whole big family. Then there may have some difference between the translation of "next generation"
Yang
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-04T07:03:03.720Z
@NS.X. Surely, you catch a good point. And in China, we have traditional moral standard for taking good care of children, but it's not quite close to educate, it more like take care. And we should help our brothers, it's not next generation however. If you mean the next generation of the whole society, I'm sure there has some proverb, but it don't have the life time happiness meaning.
Yang
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2013-08-02T10:08:13.570Z
2013-08-02T10:08:13.570Z
Yang
<p>Is the following indeed a Chinese proverb and if so, is the author known, is it still commonly used and how is it spelled in Chinese?</p>

<pre><code>If you want happiness for a lifetime, help the younger generation.
</code></pre>

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2015-06-15T17:39:14.220Z
Some more info that might make for a reopen+answer: Earliest English reference I can find is 1996 "Know Stress to No Stress". The quote takes a slightly different form. I also found a Chinese source [wondering where it came from](http://zuoye.baidu.com/question/b0a6904d9b5bdea1592fbe3b634742c0.html), as well as some translations into Chinese that ante-date the 1996 book.
Stumpy Joe Pete
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2013-08-02T09:21:57.727Z
Drux, [as stated in our FAQ](http://chinese.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic), this is not a translation service so asking to translate something is off topic. What you can do is propose a translation you came up with, showing how you got it (something more than pasting on Google Translate) and then asking the parts you're not sure of.
Alenanno
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2013-08-02T09:38:54.413Z
@Alenanno: I think this question is clear: it's not asking for a translation but "whether there's an origin of this proverb in China". I did some search and only found its English and Japanese versions and some personal translation (from English) by native Chinese. However, although all those pages say this is a Chinese proverb, I can't find a convincing original version yet ...
Stan
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2013-08-02T10:24:10.820Z
@Drux - Can you please do some prior research. I appreciate that you are trying to learn the language, but we want to be 100% sure that questions on this site are on topic otherwise people not trying to learn the language can ask many similar type questions. Asking whether or not a proverb is Chinese is off-topic.
going
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2013-08-02T10:50:51.280Z
Of course I can type the quote into Google (and Google translate, and what have you, and of course I did), but what I'm basically looking for is the judgement of somebody who is familiar with the language plus the culture.
Drux
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2013-08-02T19:15:46.910Z
@Drux, can you include some reference where it is claimed this English is from Chinese proverb?
NS.X.
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2013-08-02T21:06:57.707Z
@NS.X. You got me there: I keep a collection of quotes and at some point in the past wrote down this one with its then source. Unfortunately I can't retrace the origin any longer.
Drux
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2013-08-03T08:38:58.037Z
There isn't such a proverb. Voting to close as off topic.
杨以轩
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2013-08-03T10:13:29.313Z
@QuestionOverflow: any evidence for "There isn't such a proverb"?
Stan
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2013-08-03T10:23:30.263Z
@NS.X. I had found many places saying it is a **Chinese proverb** when I searched it. Sometimes, it replaces ***younger generation*** with ***next generation*** or ***someone else***. See [1](http://thinkexist.com/quotation/if_you_want_happiness_for_a_lifetime-help_the/152468.html) [2](http://www.worldofquotes.com/topic/Generations/1/index.html) [3](http://www2.wbs.ne.jp/~hhayashi/page338.html) [4](http://iso-labo.com/labo/words_of_EnglishProverbs.html). So I feel this question very interesting -- why do many websites assert it as a Chinese proverb?
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-03T10:34:35.043Z
@Stan, there is no way to prove a negative. There could be hundreds of questions like this and OP did not even quote a single reference. It is commendable that you do what the OP is supposed to do though.
杨以轩
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-05T00:23:54.850Z
@Drux - I have put this question on hold because I feel that we need to avoid fact-checking questions. If you want to change your question to "please provide me the closest possible translation" this is on topic, but the fact checking is off-topic.
going
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-06T15:30:49.210Z
@xiaohouzi79 I do appreciate that you gave an explanation for the hold and even suggested a concrete way forward. However, I cannot help but wonder how many other questions would have to go if you eradicated all fact-checking ones :) Anyway, I've got a sufficient answer in one of the comments and I respect the rules, so that's fine.
Drux
<translation>
Chinese proverb: If you want happiness for a lifetime, help the younger generation?
# Chinese proverb: If you want happiness for a lifetime, help the younger generation?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-08-02)

Is the following indeed a Chinese proverb and if so, is the author known, is it still commonly used and how is it spelled in Chinese?

```
If you want happiness for a lifetime, help the younger generation.

```

**Tags:** translation

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: username_0, [as stated in our FAQ](http://chinese.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic), this is not a translation service so asking to translate something is off topic. What you can do is propose a translation you came up with, showing how you got it (something more than pasting on Google Translate) and then asking the parts you're not sure of.  
> **username_3**: @username_2: I think this question is clear: it's not asking for a translation but "whether there's an origin of this proverb in China". I did some search and only found its English and Japanese versions and some personal translation (from English) by native Chinese. However, although all those pages say this is a Chinese proverb, I can't find a convincing original version yet ...  
> **username_4**: @username_0 - Can you please do some prior research. I appreciate that you are trying to learn the language, but we want to be 100% sure that questions on this site are on topic otherwise people not trying to learn the language can ask many similar type questions. Asking whether or not a proverb is Chinese is off-topic.  
> **username_0**: Of course I can type the quote into Google (and Google translate, and what have you, and of course I did), but what I'm basically looking for is the judgement of somebody who is familiar with the language plus the culture.  
> **username_5**: @username_0, can you include some reference where it is claimed this English is from Chinese proverb?  
> **username_0**: @NS.X. You got me there: I keep a collection of quotes and at some point in the past wrote down this one with its then source. Unfortunately I can't retrace the origin any longer.  
> **username_6**: There isn't such a proverb. Voting to close as off topic.  
> **username_3**: @QuestionOverflow: any evidence for "There isn't such a proverb"?  
> **username_3**: @NS.X. I had found many places saying it is a **Chinese proverb** when I searched it. Sometimes, it replaces ***younger generation*** with ***next generation*** or ***someone else***. See [1](http://thinkexist.com/quotation/if_you_want_happiness_for_a_lifetime-help_the/152468.html) [2](http://www.worldofquotes.com/topic/Generations/1/index.html) [3](http://www2.wbs.ne.jp/~hhayashi/page338.html) [4](http://iso-labo.com/labo/words_of_EnglishProverbs.html). So I feel this question very interesting -- why do many websites assert it as a Chinese proverb?  
> **username_6**: @username_3, there is no way to prove a negative. There could be hundreds of questions like this and OP did not even quote a single reference. It is commendable that you do what the OP is supposed to do though.  
> **username_4**: @username_0 - I have put this question on hold because I feel that we need to avoid fact-checking questions. If you want to change your question to "please provide me the closest possible translation" this is on topic, but the fact checking is off-topic.  
> **username_0**: @xiaohouzi79 I do appreciate that you gave an explanation for the hold and even suggested a concrete way forward. However, I cannot help but wonder how many other questions would have to go if you eradicated all fact-checking ones :) Anyway, I've got a sufficient answer in one of the comments and I respect the rules, so that's fine.  
> **username_1**: Some more info that might make for a reopen+answer: Earliest English reference I can find is 1996 "Know Stress to No Stress". The quote takes a slightly different form. I also found a Chinese source [wondering where it came from](http://zuoye.baidu.com/question/b0a6904d9b5bdea1592fbe3b634742c0.html), as well as some translations into Chinese that ante-date the 1996 book.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_7 on 2013-08-02. Score: 2

Yes! there is a very close proverb. 养儿防老, it's not said by any known author, but just very commonly used in Chinese daily life.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: +1. Quite close. Better than what I found on the Internet: "教育下一代，幸福一辈子。", "落红不是无情物，化作春泥更护花。", etc. BTW, it's from Song Dynasty 陈元靓's `事林广记`: "养儿防老，积谷防饥"  
> **username_0**: I think this is semantically different: it seems to indicate e.g. that children may care for their parents in old age whereas the other proverb indicates e.g. that teaching can be a noble profession.  
> **username_3**: @username_0: the problem is, when a proverb is translated to another language, the translator tries to recover the "true" meaning from it. As there would be different understandings/interpretations, the final translation result is sometimes strange to native speakers. I admit, as a native Chinese speaker I felt that proverb quite "Chinese culture style" when seeing the English version you posted, but I cannot recall an exact proverb in Chinese. Personally speaking, this answer would be a good candidate -- though it's not often translated into English like that.  
> **username_0**: @username_3 actually I think (with the help of Google translate, etc. :) your 教育下一代，幸福一辈子 comes quite close :) If you want to write it up as an answer together with a suitable link to a mixed English/Chinese site or some other reputable Chinese source for confirmation, I'd perhaps accept it :) Thx/谢谢  
> **username_3**: @username_0: But I don't believe `教育下一代，幸福一辈子` can be a Chinese proverb. It's more like a promotional banner in countryside.  
> **username_7**: @username_3,@username_0. you have good points. It's true we can't really cover all the meaning. 教育下一代，幸福一辈子 is closer indeed, however it's not a proverb in China. If leave the restriction of proverb, there is plenty of phrases.  
> **username_0**: @username_7 ok & thx. I'll do some more research elsewhere based on this insight.  
> **username_7**: well, it's just too difficult for a foreigner to lean Chinese proverbs, it's just toooooooooooooooo much. if you have instant question, I will be glad to help.  
> **username_0**: @username_7 I didn't quite understand what you meant by "leaving the restriction of proverb". However, if it helps the cause, I'm certainly happy to leave it and look at similar phrases (or quotes) instead. Meanwhile I also hope our moderator's patience does not run out ... :)  
> **username_7**: well, it's just the OP said proverb.. I don't think it's necessary.  
> **username_5**: @username_7, Note OP is trying to _verify_ the source of the English translation instead of looking for alternative Chinese translations. If none of us native speakers can think of a proverb, we should say 'we couldn't think of it, the English translation might have misinterpreted the original proverb, or it was not from Chinese', which is precise and valid, instead of providing an answer off from the question. (My comment is toward your comment above, not your answer - I think this answer is good.)  
> **username_5**: @username_0 Given Chinese culture and tradition, I don't believe there is a famous old saying that cultivates childcare without selfish causes. If it's indeed from Chinese, it's likely from modern time, in which case it's hard to distinguish proverb from propaganda slogans.  
> **username_7**: @NS.X. In Chinese when we say next generation, we mainly refer to our children or the children generation of the whole big family. Then there may have some difference between the translation of "next generation"  
> **username_7**: @NS.X. Surely, you catch a good point. And in China, we have traditional moral standard for taking good care of children, but it's not quite close to educate, it more like take care. And we should help our brothers, it's not next generation however. If you mean the next generation of the whole society, I'm sure there has some proverb, but it don't have the life time happiness meaning.  

---

