奔流到海不复回

奔流到海不復回
bēnliúdàohǎibùfùhuí
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 rushes to the sea and returns no more
  2. 2 (fig.) irreversible forward flow — of water, time, or youth
  3. 3 (lit.) rush-flow reach sea not again return

Examples

Shíjiān xiàng jiāng shuǐ, bēn liú dào hǎi bù fù huí.
Time is like a river's water — 'rushing to the sea, it returns no more.'
Qīngchūn bēn liú dào hǎi bù fù huí, chèn zǎo zhuīmèng ba.
Youth 'rushes to the sea and returns no more' — chase your dreams while you can.

Tips

history
From the opening of 李白》(Li Bai, Bring in the Wine, mid-8th c., Tang): 不见天上奔流不复不见明镜白发 (Do you not see? — the waters of the Yellow River come down from heaven, rush to the sea, and return no more. Do you not see? — in the high hall, the bright mirror grieves over white hair; at dawn dark silk, at dusk snow). The greatest drinking-song in Chinese poetry and one of Li Bai's supreme performances — the opening couplet links cosmic river-flow to personal mortality.
usage
Always recited with the opening 天上. here is fù 'again,' not used adjectivally. 不复 is a classical way of saying 'never returns.'

Stroke Order

bēn
liú
dào
hǎi
huí