Quotes by Li Bai

“There is another world, other than/ this one we choose to live in.”

“And sorrows return, though we drown them with wine,Since the world can in no way answer our craving,I will loosen my hair tomorrow and take to a fishingboat.”

“No one understands now. Those who couldhear a song this deeply vanished long ago.”

“A pity it is evening, yetI do love the water of this springseeing how clear it is, how clean;rays of sunset gleam on it,lighting up its ripples, making itone with those who travelthe roads; I turn ...”

“You ask why I make my home in the mountain forest,and I smile, and am silent,and even my soul remains quiet:it lives in the other worldwhich no one owns.The peach trees blossom,The water flows.”

“From the walls of Baidi high in the colored dawnTo Jiangling by night-fall is three hundred miles,Yet monkeys are still calling on both banks behind meTo my boat these ten thousand mountains away.”

“All the birds have flown up and gone;A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.We never tire of looking at each other—Only the mountain and I.”

“Li Po's style is swift, yet never careless; lively, yet never informal. But his intellectual outlook was low and sordid. In nine poems out of ten he deals with nothing but wine or women.”

“The world acclaims Li Po as its master poet. I grant that his works show unparalleled talent and originality, but not one in ten contains any moral reflection or deeper meaning.”

“Li Bai could turn sweet nectar into verses fine.Drunk in the capital, he'd lie in shops of wine.Even imperial summons proudly he'd decline,Saying immortals could not leave the drink divine.”

“Tu's poems, she said, are known for their workmanship and artistic refinement, while Li's poems are known for their freedom and naturalness of expression. I prefer the vivacity of Li Po to the seve...”

“Li Po is China's prince of vagabond poets, with his drink, his dread of officialdom, his companionship with the moon, his love of high mountain scenery, and his constant aspiration: Oh, could I but...”