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先天下之憂而憂，後天下之樂而樂

简先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐 · 繁先天下之憂而憂，後天下之樂而樂

Mandarin · pinyin xiān tiān xià zhī yōu ér yōu , hòu tiān xià zhī lè ér lè

to be the first to worry about affairs of state, and the last to enjoy oneself (quotation from the essay On Yueyang Tower 岳陽樓記 Yuè yáng Lóu Jì by Song writer Fan Zhongyan 范仲淹 Fàn Zhòng yān)

Characters in this entry

先: xiān · first, former, previous
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
下: xià · under, underneath, below; down; inferior; bring down
之: zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
憂: Look up this written character
而: ér · and; and then; and yet; but; Kangxi radical 126
後: hòu · behind, rear, after; descendents
樂: lè · happy, glad; enjoyable; music
忧: yōu · sad, grieved; grief, melancholy
后: hòu · queen, empress, sovereign; (simp. for 後) behind, rear, after
乐: lè · happy, glad; enjoyable; music

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

11character links2source references

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

sin1 tin1 haa6 zi1 jau1 ji4 jau1 ，hau6 tin1 haa6 zi1 lok6 ji4 lok6

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.