
"In the quiet of the morning I heard a knock at my door"
Translated by Arthur Waley
Fiction, Napoleon Symphony (1974)
"In the quiet of the morning I heard a knock at my door"
Translated by Arthur Waley
“I beg you listen to this advice—
When you can get wine, be sure to drink it.”
Substance, Shadow, and Spirit, "Substance speaks to Shadow" (translation by A. Waley)
In A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1919), 'Poems By Tao Ch'ien', p. 106
Context: 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.
“There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.”
Solitude
Poetry quotes
Context: Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all.
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.
Source: Motherland (2012 novel), p. 18
Knowing Yourself: The True in the False (1996)