我言秋日胜春朝

我言秋日勝春朝

wǒ yán qiū rì shèng chūn zhāo

quotation

Meanings

1 I say an autumn day beats a spring morning
2 Liu Yuxi's defiant rebuttal to the ancient trope that autumn is sad

Characters

Examples

秋高气爽时我最痛快，我言秋日胜春朝。

Qiūgāoqìshuǎng shí wǒ zuì tòngkuài, wǒyánqiūrìshèngchūnzhāo.

When the autumn air is crisp I'm happiest — I say an autumn day beats a spring morning.

朋友说伤春悲秋，她反驳道："我言秋日胜春朝！"

Péngyǒu shuō shāng chūn bēi qiū, tā fǎnbó dào: " Wǒyánqiūrìshèngchūnzhāo! "

When friends lamented spring's end and autumn's sadness, she shot back: 'I say an autumn day beats a spring morning!'

Tips

history

From 《秋词》 by 刘禹锡 (Liu Yuxi, Tang dynasty): '自古逢秋悲寂寥，我言秋日胜春朝.' Written during exile — a deliberate rebuke of Song Yu's 悲秋 lament ('nine ages of grieving autumn'). The same poem contains 晴空一鹤排云上 earlier in this batch.

usage

言 here = 'say / maintain,' classical register. 朝 read zhāo = 'morning' (not cháo = 'dynasty').

Stroke Order

我 wǒ

言 yán

秋 qiū

日 rì

胜 shèng

春 chūn

朝 cháo