Su Shi (苏轼; 8 January 1037 – 24 August 1101), also known as Su Dongpo, was a Chinese writer, poet, painter, calligrapher, pharmacologist, gastronome, and a statesman of the Song dynasty.
Quotes
- 水光潋滟晴方好,山色空蒙雨亦奇。
欲把西湖比西子,淡妆浓抹总相宜。- The brimming waves delight the eye on sunny days;
The dimming hills give a rare view in rainy haze.
The West Lake looks like the fair lady at her best
Whether she is richly adorned or plainly dressed.- "The West Lake, the Beauty" (《饮湖上初晴后雨》) (1073), in Song of the Immortals: An Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry, trans. Yuanchong Xu (Beijing: New World Press, 1994), p. 200
- The brimming waves delight the eye on sunny days;
- 横看成岭侧成峰,远近高低各不同。
不识庐山真面目,只缘身在此山中。- From the side, a whole range; from the end, a single peak;
far, near, high, low, no two parts alike.
Why can't I tell the true shape of Lu-shan?
Because I myself am in the mountain.- "Written on the Wall at West Forest Temple" (《题西林壁》) (1084), in Selected Poems of Su Tung-p'o, trans. Burton Watson (Port Townsend, Wash.: Copper Canyon Press, 1994), p. 108
- From the side, a whole range; from the end, a single peak;
- 十年生死两茫茫。不思量,自难忘。
- For ten long years the living of the dead knows nought.
Though to my mind not brought,
Could the dead be forgot?- "Dreaming of My Deceased Wife on the Night of the Twentieth Day of the First Month" (《江城子·乙卯正月二十日夜记梦》), in Song of the Immortals: An Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry, trans. Yuanchong Xu (Beijing: New World Press, 1994), p. 202
- For ten long years the living of the dead knows nought.
- 事如春梦了无痕。
- Life is like a spring dream which vanishes without a trace.
- As quoted in Six Records of a Floating Life by Shen Fu, Chapter 1: 'Wedded Bliss'; translated by Lin Yutang in The Wisdom of China and India (1942), p. 968
- Variant translation:
- Life passes like a spring dream without a trace.
- Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living (1937), p. 156
- Life passes like a spring dream without a trace.
- Life is like a spring dream which vanishes without a trace.
Quotes about Su Shi
- There had to be one Su Tungpo, but there could not be two.
- Lin Yutang, The Gay Genius (1947), p. vii
- The mention of Su Tungpo always elicits an affectionate and warm admiring smile in China.
- Lin Yutang, The Gay Genius (1947), p. vii
External links
Encyclopedic article on Su Shi at Wikipedia Media related to Su Shi at Wikimedia Commons - Poems by Su Shi at blackcatpoems.com
- Su Shi Index at chinese-poems.com
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