“The happiest part of a man's life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer
"Spring Morning" (《春晓》), trans. Yuanchong Xu
“The happiest part of a man's life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer
“As a flower springs up secretly in a fenced garden, unknown to the cattle, torn up by no plough, which the winds caress, the sun strengthens, the shower draws forth, many boys, many girls, desire it.”
Ut flos in saeptis secretus nascitur hortis,
Ignotus pecori, nullo contusus aratro,
Quem mulcent aurae, firmat sol, educat imber;
Multi illum pueri, multae optavere puellae.
Gaio Valerio Catullo list of poems by Catullus
LXII
Carmina
John Constable (1776–1837) English Romantic painter
Letter to his wife, Maria Bicknell (20 April 1821); as quoted in Leslie Parris and Ian Fleming-Williams, Constable (Tate Gallery Publications, London, 1993), p. 28
1820s
Daniel Barenboim (1942) Israeli Argentine-born pianist and conductor
SPIEGEL Interview with Daniel Barenboim
Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood
Variant: It's because of you when I'm in bed in the morning that I can wind my spring and tell myself I have to live another good day.
Source: Norwegian Wood
“Spring passes
and the birds cry out—tears
in the eyes of fishes”
Bashō Matsuo book Oku no Hosomichi
行く春や
鳥啼き魚の
目は泪
yuku haru ya
tori naki uo no
me wa namida
Matsuo Bashō, Narrow Road to the Interior and other writings, Boston, 2000, p. 4 (Translation: Sam Hamill)
Spring is passing by!
Birds are weeping and the eyes
Of fish fill with tears.
Matsuo Bashō, The Narrow Road to Oku, Tokyo, 1996, p. 23 (Translation: Donald Keene)
The passing of spring—
The birds weep and in the eyes
Of fish there are tears.
Donald Keene, Travelers of a Hundred Ages, New York, 1999, p. 310 (Translation: Donald Keene)
Oku no Hosomichi