8 Quotes by Nezahualcóyotl

The Giver of Life enrages us,He intoxicates us here.No one is at His sideto be famous, to rule on Earth.

San iwki tlakwiloliah tonpopoliwi.San iwki xochitl,in san tonkwetlawiya in tlaltikpak

What shall I take with me?Will I let nothing behind me over the earth?How shall my heart act?Is it that we come in vain to live,to sprout over the earth?Let us leave at least flowers,let us leave at least songs.

So said Tochihuitzin,so said Coyolchiuhqui:We come out of the dream suddenly,we only come to dream,it isn't true, it isn't truethat we come to live on the earth.Like grass in springis our being.Our heart makes them grow,flowers sprout from our flesh.Some open their corollas,then they become dry.So said Tochihuitzin.

We will pass away. I, Nezahualcoyotl, say, enjoy! Do we really live on earth? Ohuaya, ohuaya.Not forever on earth, only a brief time here!Even jades fracture; even gold ruptures, even quetzal plumes tear: Not forever on earth: only a brief time here! Ohuaya, ohuaya.

O friends, to a good place we've come to live, come in springtime! In that place a very brief moment! So brief is life!

Truly do we live on earth?Not forever on earth; only a little while here.Although it be jade, it will be broken,Although it be gold, it is crushed,Although it be quetzal feather, it is torn asunder.Not forever on earth; only a little while here.

I love the song of the mockingbird,Bird of four hundred voices,I love the color of jadeAnd the intoxicating scent of flowers,But more than all I love my brother, man.