Judgment, restraint and observation
Explore excess, evidence and the limits of judgment through two enduring idioms.
7 items
Drawing Legs on a Snake
to ruin something by overdoing it
画蛇添足
Idiom · four-character fixed expressionTo Know Autumn from a Single Leaf
to infer a broader change from one early sign
一叶知秋
Poetry · five-character quatrainLooking for the Recluse and Not Finding Him
Beneath the pines I question the boy; he says his master has gone to gather herbs. He is only somewhere in this mountain, but the clouds are deep—who knows where?
寻隐者不遇
Poetry · seven-character quatrainRed Cliff
A broken halberd sunk in sand, its iron not yet eaten away; I take it up myself, grind and wash it, and identify an earlier dynasty. Had the east wind not favored young Zhou, deep spring in the Bronze Sparrow Tower would have shut away the two Qiao.
赤壁
Poetry · seven-character quatrainMooring on the Qinhuai
Mist wraps the cold water, moonlight wraps the sand; at night I moor on the Qinhuai, close by the wine houses. The singing women do not know the grief of a fallen state; across the water they are still singing 'Flowers of the Rear Courtyard.'
泊秦淮
Poetry · seven-character quatrainThe Robe of Gold Thread
I urge you not to prize the robe of gold thread; I urge you to prize instead the years of youth. When a flower opens and can be picked, pick it at once; do not wait until, with no flowers left, you break a bare branch.
金缕衣
Poetry · PoemThe Pulley
God grants strength, beauty, wisdom, honour, and pleasure but withholds rest, so human weariness may draw people back toward the divine.