“She walked indoors, and staring once more at her orchids, thought to herself: ‘Flowers have their spring-time, a time for fresh blossoms and young leaves. I am young, but frail as the willow that dreads the first breath of autumn…… — Cao Xueqin Copy Share Image
“Not chewed-off ends of the sky’s embroidery? ‘What are they?’ – ‘Raise the blind a bit and see.’ ‘A white hand snatches some and… — Cao Xueqin Copy Share Image
“If with the water’s rosy hue comparison be made, Carmine tears and dewy flowers seem of the self-same shade. Yet lady’s tears and flowers in this unalike I find, That the flowers are still and smiling, but the tears flow unallayed. As she gazes on the smiling flowers, her tears at last grow dry; But as they dry, the springtime… — Cao Xueqin Copy Share
“True learning implies a clear insight into human activities. Genuine culture involves the skilful manipulation of human relationships.” — Cao Xueqin Copy Share Image
“most common people oft he market-place much prefer light literature to improving books. The problem is, that so many romances contain slanderous anecdotes about… — Cao Xueqin Copy Share Image
“Truth becomes fiction when the fiction's true; Real becomes not-real where the unreal's real.” — Cao Xueqin Copy Share Image
“There was a peal of laughter from the girls. Then, before anyone could say a word, the line was seen to move a fraction.… — Cao Xueqin Copy Share Image
“The cunning waste their pains; The wise men vex their brains; But the simpleton, who seeks no gains, With belly full, he wanders free… — Cao Xueqin Copy Share Image
“Can I, that these flowers’ obsequies attend, Divine how soon or late my life will end? Let others laugh flower-burial to see: Another year… — Cao Xueqin Copy Share Image
“As for the ‘settling of accounts’ that Bao-yu had proposed to Qin Zhong, we have been unable to ascertain exactly what form this took;… — Cao Xueqin Copy Share Image
“The immortal parts of the late Droopy’s relict leaped through her cranium and described several somersaults in the air. She” — Cao Xueqin Copy Share Image
“She walked indoors, and staring once more at her orchids, thought to herself: ‘Flowers have their spring-time, a time for fresh blossoms and young… — Cao Xueqin Copy Share Image
