Du Fu Quotations

The weeping voices rise straight up and strike the clouds. A passer-by at the roadside asks a conscript why, The conscript answers only that drafting happens often.

Though a country be sundered, hills and rivers endure; And spring comes green again to trees and grasses Where petals have been shed like tears And lonely birds have sung their grief. ...After the war-fires of three months, One message from home is worth a ton of gold. ...I stroke my white hair. It has grown too thin To hold the hairpins any more.

The bitter pinecone may be eaten, The mist on high give nourishment. The whole world takes to go-and-getting; My way alone is difficult.

A falcon hovers at the edge of the sky.Two gulls drift slowly up the river.Vulnerable while they ride the wind,they coast and glide with ease.Dew is heavy on the grass below,the spider's web is ready.Heaven's ways include the human:among a thousand sorrows, I stand alone.

I see shining fish struggling within tight nets, while I hear orioles singing carefree tunes. Even trivial creatures know the difference between freedom and bondage. Sympathy and compassion should be but natural to the human heart.

This cream will help one's nature strengthen and grow, The diet gives support in my decline.

Beneath the light, the river and hills are beautiful, The spring breeze bears the fragrance of flowers and grass. The mud has thawed, and swallows fly around. On the warm sand, mandarin ducks are sleeping.

O, from the ancient days always there have been travelers. So why should I grieve?

Could I get mansions covering ten thousand miles, I'd house all the poor scholars and make them beam with smiles

Blue is the smoke of wrar, white the bones of men.

My heart is in a world of water and crystal, My clothes are damp in this time of spring rains.

After the battle, many new ghosts cry, The solitary old man murmurs in his grief.

This morning's scene is good and fine, Long rain has not harmed the land.