9 quotes
What bustle and confusion, as one set of actors exits and another enters,
Each taking the illusory for the real.
Dream of the Red Chamber (1958)
When the unreal is taken for the real, then the real becomes unreal;
Where non-existence is taken for existence, then existence becomes non-existence.
Dream of the Red Chamber (1958)
Pages full of unlikely words,
Handfuls of hot, bitter tears.
They call the author a silly fool,
For they know not what he means.
Dream of the Red Chamber (1958)
"What follows the way of Heaven prospers and what goes against it perishes."
Dream of the Red Chamber (1958)
Enduring as heaven and earth—no love however ancient can ever die;
Timeless as light and shadow—no debt of breeze and moonlight can ever be repaid.
Dream of the Red Chamber (1958)
Just at the point when we were at a loss as to what to use for the further development of our story, there came to the Yungkuofu a visitor from a poor family only remotely related to the Chias. This family, then, will serve our purpose.
Dream of the Red Chamber (1958)
Tonight a pair of cooing doves under red bridal curtains,
Tomorrow a heap of bleached bones like those of yesteryear.
[...]
One moment we grieve over a short-lived friend,
The next we are ourselves overtaken by death.
Dream of the Red Chamber (1958)
Careful as we may be with our sons,
We cannot be certain they will not turn bandits and thieves.
We would all bring up our daughters to be ladies,
But who can say that they will not end up in courtesans' quarters?
Dream of the Red Chamber (1958)
[Pao-yu] could not see why beautiful maidens should marry and become slaves of men who would take them for granted, when they could just as well remain carefree and do nothing but play games and write verses.
Dream of the Red Chamber (1958)