Loves in Chinese / Japanese...

手不釋卷 is a Chinese proverb that literally means “always with a book in hand.”

It's a proverb said of a hardworking scholar or student.

This may refer to a student or scholar who is diligent and hardworking. It's a great gift for a student or scholar who loves books.

上帝愛你 means “God loves you,” in Chinese.

This proverb, 爱花连盆爱爱女疼女婿, literally translates as “If one loves a flower, [one will] love its pot; [if one really] loves [one's] daughter, [one will also] love [one's] son-in-law.”

Figuratively, is similar to the English proverbs:
Love me, love my dog.
Love for a person extends even to the crows on his roof.

同病相憐 is a Chinese proverb that means “fellow sufferers empathize with each other” or to match it with a western idiom, “misery loves company.” This is also somewhat known in Korean Hanja.

This could be two people who were just dumped by a girlfriend/boyfriend or just divorced. They're drawn together either by their misery or because of the need to share their miserable experience with someone else.

同病相憐 is probably the saddest proverb in our collection.

Literally, the characters mean:
同 together with
病 illness, sickness, disease (in this case, just the mental anguish after some kind of event or life issue)
相 mutual, reciprocal, each other
憐 pity, sympathize

In Japanese, this is written with two extra Hiragana on the end like this: 同病相憐れむ
If you want the Japanese version, don’t use the button above but click here instead: Misery Loves Company in Japanese

There are several ways to translate this ancient proverb. Translated literally and directly, it says, “Open roll has/yields benefit.”

To understand that, you must know a few things...

First, Chinese characters and language have deeper meanings that often are not spoken but are understood - especially with ancient texts like this. Example: It's understood that the “benefit” referred to in this proverb is to the reader's mind. Just the last character expresses that whole idea.

Second, Chinese proverbs are supposed to make you think and leave a bit of mystery to figure out.

Third, for this proverb, it should be noted that roll = book. When this proverb came about (about two thousand years ago), books were rolls of bamboo slips strung together. The first bound books like the ones we use today did not come about until about a thousand years after this proverb when they invented paper in China.

開卷有益 is a great gift for a bookworm who loves to read and increase their knowledge. Or for any friend that is or wants to be well-read.

Some other translations of this phrase:
Opening a book is profitable
The benefits of education.

愛別離苦 is a Buddhist term that refers to “the pain of separation from loved ones,” or “the suffering of being separated from those whom one loves.”

If you translate each character separately, you get, “love(s) separated [and] departed [yields] pain.”

The pain character can also be defined as anguish; suffering; distress; anxiety; worry; trouble; difficulty; hardship; bitterness; to suffer; anguish; distress; anxiety; worry; trouble; difficulty; bitterness; unhappiness; or misery.