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常怀千岁忧

常懷千歲憂
chánghuáiqiānsuìyōu
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 forever harboring a thousand-year worry
  2. 2 (fig.) people foolishly fret over far-off futures they will not live to see
  3. 3 (lit.) always carry thousand-year worry

Examples

人生不满百，何必常怀千岁忧。
Rénshēng bù mǎn bǎi, hébì cháng huái qiān suì yōu.
Life does not reach a hundred years — why forever carry a thousand-year worry?
他终于想通了：不必常怀千岁忧，过好当下才是真。
Tā zhōngyú xiǎngtōngle: bùbì cháng huái qiān suì yōu, guò hǎo dāngxià cái shì zhēn.
He finally saw it: no need to 'carry a thousand-year worry' — living the present well is what's real.

Tips

history
From 《古诗十九首·生年不满百》(Nineteen Old Poems, 'Lifespans Don't Reach a Hundred,' Han dynasty, anonymous, c. 100 CE): 生年不满百，常怀千岁忧。昼短苦夜长，何不秉烛游 (Our lives don't reach a hundred years, yet we carry a thousand-year worry. The days are short, the nights bitter-long — why not take a candle and roam?). A classic carpe diem poem — one of the earliest and most influential in Chinese literature.
usage
Almost always quoted with the preceding line 生年不满百. The image is of comical over-worrying about a future beyond one's own lifespan. 何不秉烛游 ('why not roam by candlelight') is the poem's resolution.

Stroke Order

常 cháng
怀 huái
千 qiān
岁 suì
忧 yōu