Yī liǎng sī néng dé jǐ shí luò/lè.

一兩絲能得幾時絡/樂。

Lit One ounce of silk cannot be spun out [into a long thread].

Fig Pleasure cannot last forever.

Note [Cf. Guó Shǐ Yí Zuǎn, quoted in Tài Píng Guǎng Jì, vol. 188; in literary Chinese, luò, “thread,” is a loose pun on lè, “happiness”; liǎng is a Chinese unit of weight now equal to 50 grams.]

Topics HAPPINESS LIMITS PLEASURE TIME