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.
Du FuRead
Could I get mansions covering ten thousand miles, I'd house all the poor scholars and make them beam with smiles
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a desire to provide shelter and happiness for those in need through generosity and kindness.
Du Fu's quote reflects the profound compassion he feels for the less fortunate, particularly the scholars who struggle. It emphasizes the idea that if he had the resources, he would use them not for personal gain, but to create a sanctuary where the poor can find joy and support, highlighting the importance of altruism and the responsibility we have towards others in society.
Themes
GenerosityCompassionAltruismScholarsShelter
In practice
Example use cases
In a charity event focused on education, this quote could inspire donations for scholarships.
More from Du Fu
All quotes βThe 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.
Du FuRead
My heart is in a world of water and crystal, My clothes are damp in this time of spring rains.
Du FuRead
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.
Du FuRead
Similar quotes
Men cannot be made good by the state, but they can easily be made bad. Morality depends on liberty.
Lord ActonRead
Sometimes, when she's out here alone, she can feel the pulse of something bigger, as if all things animate were beating in unison, a glory and a connection that sweeps her out of herself, out of her consciousness, so that nothing has a name, not in Latin, not in English, not in any known language.
T.C. BoyleRead
The rain came down upon my head - Unshelter'd. And the wind rendered me mad and deaf and blind.
Edgar Allan PoeRead
If by the liberty of the press were understood merely the liberty of discussing the propriety of public measures and political opinions, let us have as much of it as you please: But if it means the liberty of affronting, calumniating and defaming one another, I, for my part, own myself willing to part with my share of it, whenever our legislators shall please so to alter the law and shall chearfully consent to exchange my liberty of abusing others for the privilege of not being abused myself.
Benjamin FranklinRead
I ask you only to stop imagining that you were born, have parents, are a body, will die and so on. Just try, make a beginning-it is not as hard as you think.
Sri Nisargadatta MaharajRead
It was the combination of many factors... With most people, suicide is like Russian roulette. Only one chamber has a bullet. With the Lisbon girls, the gun was loaded. A bullet for family abuse. A bullet for genetic predisposition. A bullet for historical malaise. A bullet for inevitable momentum. The other two bullets are impossible to name, but that doesn't mean the chambers were empty.
Jeffrey EugenidesRead