天地有大美而不言

tiāndì yǒu dà měi ér bù yán
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 heaven and earth possess great beauty but do not speak of it
  2. 2 the grandest beauty does not announce itself
  3. 3 Zhuangzi on the silent eloquence of nature

Examples

Zhuāngzǐ shuō tiāndìyǒudàměi'érbùyán, zìrán bùbì zhāngyáng.
Zhuangzi said heaven and earth have great beauty but do not speak of it — nature needs no self-promotion.
Zhēnzhèng de měi wǎngwǎng rú tiāndìyǒudàměi'érbùyán.
True beauty is often like 'the great beauty of heaven and earth that does not speak.'

Tips

history
From 《庄子·》 (Zhuangzi, 'Knowledge Wandered North'): 天地万物不说 — 'Heaven and earth have great beauty but do not speak of it; the four seasons have clear laws but do not argue them; the myriad things have their patterns but do not explain them.' The Daoist classic's statement that cosmic order is self-evident and wordless.
usage
here is the classical conjunction 'yet / but.' (yán) = 'to speak.' The whole passage has become a standard epigraph for Chinese landscape photography, nature writing, and minimalist design manifestos.

Stroke Order

tiān
yǒu
měi
ér
yán