Is there English proverb or saying equivalent to Chinese / Japanese common proverb 李下に冠を正さず- Don’t touch (redress) your coronet under the plum tree?

Recently I made an inadvertent mistake, which reminded me a familiar Japanese proverb to admonish us to stay away from situation and the likelihood to be suspected as a rule-offender. It is a set of words, 李下に冠を正さず - Don’t touch your coronet under the plum tree, and瓜田に靴を入れずDon’t wear shoes in cucurbit field, lest you should be suspected as a cucurbit or plum fruit thief.

I understand the proverb came from the passage, 君子防未然。不処嫌疑間。瓜田不納履、李下不正冠 that can be translated as “Gentlemen prevent problems in advance. Don’t wear shoes in cucurbit field. Don’t touch your coronet under the plum tree,” in君子行 (Gentleman’s Conduct) in Chinese classic literature,古楽府.

We also have a proverb, 転ばぬ先の杖 – Walk with a stick before you stumble (on stone) referring to preparedness, but it’s different from李下に冠を正さず in meaning.

Are there similar English proverbs or maxims as李下に冠を正さずthat admonish us to keep away from the habit, or taking action to get involved in the unexpected problem or disaster as a result? I would like to tell it to myself.

Solution 1:

I can't think of any exactly like yours. There are lots of idioms about being careful or avoiding obviously unwise situations, some of them are:

• "Better safe than sorry." (be careful not to take unnecessary risks)
• "Look before you leap." (be careful not to hurry and in your haste make a bad decision)
• "Don't spit into the wind." (also piss) (Don't do something that has a very good chance of turning out badly for you)

Solution 2:

I'm going to suggest you to remain above suspicion.

Because, the main idea in your question is "don't do things that can make you look suspicious".

The idiom "above suspicion" comes from Caesar's famous statement about his wife:

Caesar's wife must be above suspicion.

_{above suspicion - [for one] to be honest enough that no one would suspect one; in a position where one could not be suspected. (*Typically: be ~; keep oneself ~; remain ~.)}

_{^{Dictionary Source: http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/suspicioning}}

Solution 3:

People should not only avoid impropriety but also avoid even the Appearance of impropriety.

Solution 4:

With regard to the conclusion that one should stay away from situations that may mark one as a rule breaker even if one is innocent, I am reminded not of any particular English proverb, but of Aesop's fable of the farmer and the stork. The book Aesop for Children, which my parents used to read to me and my siblings when we were young, tells the story this way:

THE FARMER AND THE STORK

A Stork of a very simple and trusting nature had been asked by a gay party of Cranes to visit a field that had been newly planted. But the party ended dismally with all the birds entangled in the meshes of the Farmer's net.

The Stork begged the Farmer to spare him.

"Please let me go," he pleaded. "I belong to the Stork family who you know are honest and birds of good character. Besides, I did not know the Cranes were going to steal."

"You may be a very good bird," answered the Farmer, "but I caught you with the thieving Cranes and you will have to share the same punishment with them."

Moral: You are judged by the company you keep.

The poignancy of this story is increased by the fact that, whereas cranes love to eat grain (and other seeds), as well as small animals, storks much prefer a diet of fish, frogs, insects, mice, etc.; so the stork could hardly have done any damage to the farmer's crop by associating with the cranes. But the farmer either didn't know that fact or didn't care.

By the way, the moral that the anonymous author of Aesop for Children drew from this fable is not Aesop's; an equally valid conclusion might be When you are caught in a compromising situation, appearances may count for more than actual intentions.