The most famous lines of Nguyễn Du's Tale of Kiều
The top 3 according to 17 votes from people: Young grass green to the horizon; / on the pear branch, a few white blossoms. · Living through a time when seas turn into mulberry fields, / what one sees breaks the heart. · In the Ngưng Bích tower her spring is locked away; / distant hills and the nearby moon keep her company.. (Updated Apr 5, 2021.)
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.
Automatically translated (original in Tiếng Việt). See the original
Top 14
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1
Young grass green to the horizon; / on the pear branch, a few white blossoms.
The spring scene.
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2
Living through a time when seas turn into mulberry fields, / what one sees breaks the heart.
Lines 3–4.
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3
In the Ngưng Bích tower her spring is locked away; / distant hills and the nearby moon keep her company.
Kiều locked in the Ngưng Bích tower.
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4
Spring days: swallows shuttle like a loom; / of ninety days of light, more than sixty are gone.
The spring day of the Qingming festival.
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5
Eyes like autumn water, brows like spring hills: / flowers envied her colour, willows her green.
Describing Thúy Kiều's beauty.
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6
Vân had a rare and stately grace: / a full moon of a face, brows finely drawn.
Describing Thúy Vân's beauty.
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7
These rustic words, pieced together at length, / may serve to amuse for a watch or two of the night.
The closing couplet.
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8
How painful is the lot of women! / An ill-starred fate is the common lot.
A lament on the fate of women.
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9
The root of goodness lies in our own heart: / a good heart is worth three times talent.
The ending.
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10
A hundred years in this mortal world: / talent and destiny are apt to quarrel.
The opening couplet.
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11
Sadly she gazes at the estuary at dusk: / whose boat is that, its sail glimpsed far away?
Kiều in the Ngưng Bích tower.
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12
Every scene is steeped in sorrow: / when the heart is sad, the scene is never glad.
On mood and landscape.
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13
If it wills hardship, there will be hardship; / only if it grants nobility will there be nobility.
The ending.
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14
Truly, all things rest with Heaven: / Heaven has made us human, with bodies.
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.
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