Are there any English equivalents to Chinese proverb"throwing a brick to attract jade"?

In Chinese, "throwing a brick to attract jade" means

I offer a humble remark, please give us your valued opinion.

See here for the full explanation. Are there any English equivalents to this?

In Chinese, "throwing a brick to attract jade" is not limited to the remarks and opinions. Sometimes people say "throwing a brick to attract jade" to mean "I want to do A to encourage more people to do A and do better in A".

Solution 1:

I'm not fully sure I understand the Chinese proverb, but "I want to do A to encourage more people to do A and do better in A" leads me to the English phrase

Let me get the ball rolling

which roughly means "let me make a feeble or modest effort to encourage other people to participate in a bigger way."