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To feel that one is disliked by others is surely one of the saddest things in the world, and no one, however foolish, could wish such a thing on himself.

submitted 11 hours ago • 0 comments

I am more pleased when something nice happens to a person I love than when it happens to myself.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Yet everywhere, whether it be in the Palace or at home in the bosom of the family, there are some people who are naturally liked and others who are not.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Even in the case of love poems, people should at least answer that they were moved at receiving the message, or something of the sort; otherwise they will cause the keenest disappointment.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Especially delightful is the first day of the First Month, when the mists so often shroud the sky. Everyone pays great attention to his appearance and dresses with the utmost care. What a pleasure it is to see them all offer their congratulations to the Emperor and celebrate their own new year!

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

A white under-robe in the Eighth Month.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Shaved ice mixed with liana syrup and put in a new silver bowl.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

It is annoying when a messenger delivers a letter to a person not meant to see it. If he simply admitted his mistake, it would not be so bad. But when he begins insisting that he merely carried out orders, it is really infuriating.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

One of the bowmen is an archery contest stands trembling for a long time before shooting; when finally he does release his arrow, it goes in the wrong direction.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

To notice that one’s elegant Chinese mirror has become a little cloudy.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

One has sent someone a poem (or a reply to a poem) and, after the messenger has left, thinks of a couple of words that ought to be changed.

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

It is absurd of people to get angry because one has gossiped about them.

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

During the hot months it is a great delight to sit on the veranda, enjoying the cool of the evening and observing how the outlines of objects gradually become blurred. At such a moment I particularly enjoy the sight of a gentleman’s carriage, preceded by outriders clearing the way.

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

It is annoying when a messenger delivers a letter to a person not meant to see it. If he simply admitted his mistake, it would not be so bad. But when he begins insisting that he merely carried out orders, it is really infuriating.

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

I remember one occasion when I visited the Palace to see the procession of blue horses. Several senior courtiers were standing outside the guard-house of the Left Division; they had borrowed bows from the escorts, and, with much laughter, were twanging them to make the horses prance. Looking

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

It is night and one is expecting a visitor. Suddenly one is startled by the sound of rain-drops, which the wind blows against the shutters.

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

When the sun has set, one’s heart is moved by the sound of the wind and the hum of insects.

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Duck eggs.

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

A cold, empty brazier.

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

Someone has torn up a letter and thrown it away. Picking up the pieces, one finds that many of them can be fitted together.

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

While entertaining some visitors, one hears some servant chatting without any restraint in one of the back rooms. It is embarrassing to know that one’s visitors can overhear them. But how to stop them?

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

If I were not afraid that someone might see me I should rush up and strike him.

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

No doubt she was thinking of recent conversations when I had remarked in her hearing, “If I do not come first in people’s affections, I had just soon not be loved at all; in fact I would rather be hated or even maltreated. It is better to be dead than to be loved in second or third place.”

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

I imagine that there can be nothing so delightful as to be loved by everyone – one’s parents, one’s master, and all the people with whom one is on close terms.

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

The other ladies in attendance sat together, talking and laughing; but I stayed by myself, leaning against one of the pillars between the main hall and the veranda.

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

An elderly man who has overslept and who wakes up with a start; or a greybeard munching on some acorns that he has plucked.

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

A white under-robe in the Eighth Month.

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

What lucky women, I thought, who could walk about the Nine-Fold Enclosure as though they had lived there all their lives! Just then the escorts passed close to my carriage – remarkably close, in fact, considering the vastness of the Palace grounds – and I could actually see the texture of their

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment

Someone who lives in a bustling, fashionable household receives a message from an elderly person who is behind the times and has very little to do; the poem, of course, is old-fashioned and dull. How depressing!

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

Round braziers. Winter cherries. Pine trees. The petals of yellow roses.

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

Sparrows feeding their young.

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

It is absurd of people to get angry because one has gossiped about them.

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

An elderly man with a black beard and a disagreeable expression playing with a little child who has just learnt to talk.

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

While entertaining some visitors, one hears some servant chatting without any restraint in one of the back rooms. It is embarrassing to know that one’s visitors can overhear them. But how to stop them?

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

It is a rainy day and one is feeling bored. To pass the time, one starts looking through some old papers. And then one comes across the letters of a man one used to love.

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments

Oxen should have very small foreheads with white hair; their underbellies, the ends of their legs, and the tips of their tails should also be white.

submitted 35 days ago • 0 comments

To sleep in a room where some fine incense has been burnt.

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

During the hot months it is a great delight to sit on the veranda, enjoying the cool of the evening and observing how the outlines of objects gradually become blurred. At such a moment I particularly enjoy the sight of a gentleman’s carriage, preceded by outriders clearing the way.

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

A carriage overturns. One would have imagined that such a solid, bulky object would remain forever on its wheels. It all seems like a dream – astonishing and senseless.

submitted 38 days ago • 0 comments

What lucky women, I thought, who could walk about the Nine-Fold Enclosure as though they had lived there all their lives! Just then the escorts passed close to my carriage – remarkably close, in fact, considering the vastness of the Palace grounds – and I could actually see the texture of their

submitted 39 days ago • 1 comment

To feel that one is disliked by others is surely one of the saddest things in the world, and no one, however foolish, could wish such a thing on himself.

submitted 40 days ago • 0 comments

I also noticed a young boy of about ten, with long, attractive hair hanging loosely down his back, and a child of about five whose hair was piled up under his jacket and whose cheeks were plump and rosy. The child held a funny little bow and a stick of some sort. It was quite adorable.

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments

While one is cleaning a decorative comb, something catches in the teeth and the comb breaks.

submitted 42 days ago • 0 comments

I love white, purple, and black clouds, and rain clouds when they are driven by the wind. It is charming at dawn to see the dark clouds gradually turn white. I believe this has been described in a Chinese poem that says something about “the tints that leave at dawn”.

submitted 43 days ago • 0 comments

How I should have liked to stop my carriage, pick them both up, and take them along!

submitted 44 days ago • 0 comments