秦人不暇自哀

Qín rén bù xiá zì āi
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 the people of Qin had no leisure to mourn themselves
  2. 2 Du Mu's grim line on the fall of the Qin — their doom came so fast no one had time to grieve

Examples

Dú 《 Ē páng gōng Fù 》, " Qínrénbùxiázì'āi " nàduàn ràng rén jǐbèi fā liáng.
Reading 'E Pang Palace Rhapsody,' the 'Qin had no time to mourn' passage sends chills down the spine.
Wángcháo bēngtā shí, Qínrénbùxiázì'āi — — hòurén'āizhī'érbùjiànzhī, yì shǐ hòurén ér fù āi hòurén yě.
When dynasties fall, the Qin have no time to mourn themselves; if later men mourn without learning, still later men will mourn them in turn.

Tips

history
From 《》 by (Du Mu, late Tang): '而后后人使后人后人.' Warning: if later dynasties mourn Qin without learning Qin's lesson, they will repeat it. Du Mu meant the late Tang — the line became a historical-cycle aphorism.
usage
= 'have no leisure/time to' (still used today, e.g. ). = 'grieve for oneself.'

Stroke Order

Qín
rén
xiá
āi