相看两不厌

相看兩不厭
xiāngkànliǎngbùyàn
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 looking at each other, neither tires of the other
  2. 2 two gazing on each other without growing weary
  3. 3 (lit.) mutually looking, both not weary

Examples

Tā wàng zhe chuāngwài de qīngshān, pō yǒu xiāng kàn liǎng bù yàn de yìwèi.
Gazing at the green hills outside, he felt that old sense of looking at something and never tiring of it.
Lǎo fūqī yīshēng xiāng kàn liǎng bù yàn, zhēn jiào rén xiànmù.
An elderly couple who never tire of looking at each other — truly enviable.

Tips

history
From Li Bai's (李白) Tang-dynasty poem 《》 (Sitting Alone on Mount Jingting). Full couplet: 『只有』— 'the one thing I never tire of looking at, and that never tires of me, is Mount Jingting.' After all his birds have flown and clouds have drifted off, only the mountain keeps him company.
usage
Used both for human relationships (lovers, old friends, long-married couples) and for landscapes or objects of deep attachment. The two 'both' () are the viewer and the viewed — each inexhaustible to the other.

Stroke Order

xiāng
kàn
liǎng
yàn