# The most famous lines of Nguyễn Du's Tale of Kiều

From "A hundred years in this mortal world" to "A good heart is worth three times talent": the lục bát couplets of The Tale of Kiều that every Vietnamese knows by heart, from Nguyễn Du's (1766–1820) 3,254-line masterpiece.

- 17 votes · 14 items
- Apr 5, 2021 · Bùi Hoàng Minh
- https://even.best/en/l/5252/the-most-famous-lines-of-nguyen-du-s-tale-of-kieu

## Top 14

1. **Young grass green to the horizon; / on the pear branch, a few white blossoms.** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — The spring scene.
2. **Living through a time when seas turn into mulberry fields, / what one sees breaks the heart.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Lines 3–4.
3. **In the Ngưng Bích tower her spring is locked away; / distant hills and the nearby moon keep her company.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Kiều locked in the Ngưng Bích tower.
4. **Spring days: swallows shuttle like a loom; / of ninety days of light, more than sixty are gone.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — The spring day of the Qingming festival.
5. **Eyes like autumn water, brows like spring hills: / flowers envied her colour, willows her green.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Describing Thúy Kiều's beauty.
6. **Vân had a rare and stately grace: / a full moon of a face, brows finely drawn.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Describing Thúy Vân's beauty.
7. **These rustic words, pieced together at length, / may serve to amuse for a watch or two of the night.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — The closing couplet.
8. **How painful is the lot of women! / An ill-starred fate is the common lot.** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — A lament on the fate of women.
9. **The root of goodness lies in our own heart: / a good heart is worth three times talent.** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — The ending.
10. **A hundred years in this mortal world: / talent and destiny are apt to quarrel.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The opening couplet.
11. **Sadly she gazes at the estuary at dusk: / whose boat is that, its sail glimpsed far away?** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Kiều in the Ngưng Bích tower.
12. **Every scene is steeped in sorrow: / when the heart is sad, the scene is never glad.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — On mood and landscape.
13. **If it wills hardship, there will be hardship; / only if it grants nobility will there be nobility.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The ending.
14. **Truly, all things rest with Heaven: / Heaven has made us human, with bodies.** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — The ending.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.