Yuan Mei

Yuan Mei (1716 – 1798) was a Chinese poet.

Quotes
How all men reverence some God, And wear their lives out for his sake And bow their heads until they ache. 'Tis clear to me the Gods are made Of the same stuff as wind or shade. ... Ah! if they came to every caller, I'd be the very loudest bawler!
 * I've ever thought it passing odd
 * "A Scoffer", as translated by Herbert Giles in Chinese Poetry in English Verse (1898), p. 189, and quoted by Leonard Feinberg in Hypocrisy: Don't Leave Home Without It (2002), p. 147

Death at an early age would still be a long life.
 * If I can rejoice for a moment,
 * "Miscellaneous Poems" III, quoted in Albert Davis (ed.), The Penguin Book of Chinese Verse (1962), p. 67

Quotes about Yuan Mei

 * Yuan Mei was a revolutionary in the world of poetry.
 * Zhu Ziqing, as quoted in J. D. Schmidt's Harmony Garden: The Life, Literary Criticsm and Poetry of Yuan Mei, 1716–1798 (2003), p. 129