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All, insubstantial, doomed to pass,
As moonlight mirrored in the water
Or flowers reflected in a glass.

— Cao Xueqin Dream of the Red Chamber (1760)

一个是水中月，一个是镜中花。

Original text (Chinese)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Chapter 5

More quotes by Cao Xueqin

Truth becomes fiction when the fiction's true;
Real becomes not-real when the unreal's real.

Pages full of idle words
Penned with hot and bitter tears:
All men call the author fool;
None his secret message hears.

All is insubstantial, doomed to pass,
As moonlight mirrored in the water
Or flowers reflected in a glass.

Girls are made of water and boys are made of mud. When I am with girls I feel fresh and clean, but when I am with boys I feel stupid and nasty.

Dream of the Red Chamber (1760)

One day, when spring has gone and youth has fled,
The Maiden and the flowers will both be dead.

Dream of the Red Chamber (1760)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Cao Xueqin (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.