Breath in Breath Out in Chinese / Japanese...

年年有餘 is a common proverb or wish of prosperity you'll hear around the time of Chinese New Year.

Directly translated character by character, it means “Year Year Have Surplus.” A more natural English translation including the deeper meaning would be “Every Year may you Have Abundance in your life.”

On a side note, this phrase often goes with a gift of something related to fish. This is because the last character, “yu” which means surplus or abundance, has exactly the same pronunciation in Mandarin as the word for “fish.”

This is also one of the most common titles for traditional paintings that feature koi fish.

In China, this phrase might make an odd wall scroll - a customer asked especially for this common phrase which is why it appears here. See my other abundance-related words if you want a wall scroll that will seem more comfortable in Chinese culture.

Note: This can be pronounced in Korean, but it's not a commonly used term.

See Also:  Prosperity | Good Fortune

氣息 can mean breath of life or panting for want of breath in the Buddhist context.

In other contexts, it can mean breath, smell, odor, or flavor.

冷静になる is a Japanese phrase that means to collect oneself, to chill out, to cool off, or to recover oneself.

Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

金似金挨玉似玉 is a Chinese proverb that literally translates as: [One who is] close to gold [is] like gold [and one who is] close to jade [is] like jade.

Figuratively, this means:
A good environment produces good people.
People are influenced by the company they keep.

Basically, if you hang out with good people, you are likely to become or stay good yourself. The opposite also is true. 挨This is like the moral version of “You are what you eat.”

Note: In Japanese, they have a similar phrase, 類は友を呼ぶ (rui wa tomo o yobu) Birds of a feather flock together. However, this is not a good meaning, so we’re not offering it for wall scrolls.

杯水車薪 is a warning against a futile effort.

This proverb literally refers to one who is “trying to put out a burning cart of wood with a cup of water,” or “throw a cup of water on a cartload of wood.” The lesson to be learned is about using the right measure or tool for the job and not wasting your effort if you are inadequately equipped for the task at hand - in other words the postscript should be “go get a bucket or a fire hose.”

生活中的每一次呼吸 means “life in every breath” in Chinese.

This phrase is more like “every breath in life” as if it's a quantity of breaths that makes up your life.

There are many ways to understand this phrase in English, so this is one of a few ways it could be translated into Chinese. If you’re looking for a different meaning, please contact me.

吐く息一つにも生命が宿り means “life in every breath” in Japanese.

This phrase is more like “every single breath as you live and dwell.”

The characters breakdown this way:
吐く息 (hakuiki) to breathe; exhaled air; one's breath; breathing.
一つ (hitotsu) one; only; just.
にも (nimo) also; too; as well; even.
生命 (seimei) life; existence; living.
が (ga) particle.
宿り (yadori) to lodge; to dwell; lodging; abode; shelter.

Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

天無絕人之路 is a proverb that means “Heaven never bars one's way,” “Don't despair and you will find a way through,” and “Never give up hope,” and is the Chinese way to say “Never say die.”

打怕的人是假的敬怕的人是真的 is a proverb that seems to be aimed at world leaders or others in power. Perhaps a suggestion to avoid the practice of “fear-mongering” opting instead for a policy of benevolence and justice.

An example: When the Bush administration told Pakistan they could either join America in the “war on terror,” or expect some bombs to be coming their way, Bush gained this kind of “less-than-genuine respect” from Pakistanis.
Leaders in places like North Korea and even Saudi Arabia reap the same bogus respect from their own citizens.

Note that calligraphers do not like to repeat the same characters in exactly the same way in the same piece of artwork. So expect the characters that are repeated to be written in different forms in the real artwork (unlike the way they are displayed to the left).

可愛い子には旅をさせよ is a Japanese proverb that means “If you love your children, send them out on a journey into the world.”

This is kind of similar to the western phrase, “Spare the rod and spoil the child.”

More literally, this reads, “Cute child, a journey granted.”
That “granted” could also be understood as “should be initiated.”

Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.