Quote by Du Fu: “Though the country is broken, mountains and rivers remain. Spring returns to the city, trees and grass grow deep.”

This quote powerfully contrasts human destruction with nature's enduring resilience. Even after devastation, the natural world continues its cycle of renewal, offering a glimmer of hope or a somber reminder of human transience against nature's permanence.

This quote is from 'Spring View,' written during the An Lushan Rebellion, which devastated the Tang Dynasty. Du Fu was in occupied Chang'an, witnessing the capital's ruin while nature continued its cycle.

Tang dynasty Chinese poet whose work earned him the title Poet Sage, one of the two supreme poets of classical Chinese literature alongside Li Bai. His poetry, unlike Li Bai's romanticism, is marked by Confucian social concern and direct engagement with the suffering caused by war and famine. He lived through the devastating An Lushan Rebellion and his poems of that period are considered among the greatest war poetry in any language.