Top 15 Tao Yuanming Quotes

In former days I wanted wine to drink; The wine this morning fills the cup in vain. I see the spring mead with its floating foam, And wonder when to taste of it again. The feast before me lavishly is spread, My relatives and friends beside me cry. I wish to speak but lips can shape no voice, I wish to see but light has left my eye. I slept of old within the lofty hall, Amidst wild weeds to rest I now descend. When once I pass beyond the city gate I shall return to darkness without end.

Longingly—I think of my friends,
But neither boat nor carriage comes.

At a single glance I survey the whole Universe.
He will never be happy, whom such pleasures fail to please!

I do not mind if my cottage is rather small
So long as there's room enough for bed and mat.
Often and often the neighbours come to see me And with brave words discuss the things of old.
Rare writings we read together and praise:
Doubtful meanings we examine together and settle.

Let me then remember, to calm my heart's distress,
That the Sages of old were often in like case.

You had better go where Fate leads—
Drift on the Stream of Infinite Flux,
Without joy, without fear:
When you must go—then go.

God can only set in motion:
He cannot control the things he has made.

While you rested in the shade, I left you a while:
But till the end we shall be together.
Our joint existence is impermanent:
Sadly together we shall slip away.
That when the body decays Fame should also go
Is a thought unendurable, burning the heart.
Let us strive and labour while yet we may
To do some deed that men will praise.

I would gladly wander in Paradise,
But it is far away and there is no road.

Heaven and Earth exist for ever:
Mountains and rivers never change.
But herbs and trees in perpetual rotation
Are renovated and withered by the dews and frosts:
And Man the wise, Man the divine—
Shall he alone escape this law?
Fortuitously appearing for a moment in the World He suddenly departs, never to return. How can he know that the friends he has left
Are missing him and thinking of him?
Only the things that he used remain; They look upon them and their tears flow.
Me no magical arts can save,
Though you may hope for a wizard's aid.
I beg you listen to this advice—
When you can get wine, be sure to drink it.

天地长不没，山川无改时。
草木得常理，霜露荣悴之。
谓人最灵智，独复不如兹。
适见在世中，奄去靡归期。
奚觉无一人，亲识岂相思。
但余平生物，举目情凄洏。
我无腾化术，必尔不复疑。
愿君取吾言，得酒莫苟辞。

Let us drink and enjoy together the wine you have brought:
For my course is set and cannot now be altered.

My little children are playing at my side,
Learning to talk, they babble unformed sounds.
These things have made me happy again
And I forget my lost cap of office.
Distant, distant I gaze at the white clouds:
With a deep yearning I think of the Sages of Antiquity.

I am free from ties and can live a life of retirement.
When I rise from sleep, I play with books and harp.

While picking asters 'neath the Eastern fence,
My gaze upon the Southern mountain rests.