讀dú書shū破pò萬wàn卷juàn，下xià筆bǐ如rú有yǒu神shén

What does 讀書破萬卷，下筆如有神 (dú shū pò wàn juàn xià bǐ rú yǒu shén) mean?

讀書破萬卷，下筆如有神 (dú shū pò wàn juàn xià bǐ rú yǒu shén) is a line of classical verse (shīcí 詩詞). Word for word it reads "read through ten thousand scrolls, the pen moves as if guided by a spirit." In use it means: Read widely enough and your own writing becomes effortless, as if something larger were guiding your hand. Input determines output. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Wood note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Rabbit.

Literally: "read through ten thousand scrolls, the pen moves as if guided by a spirit."

The reading

The writer who reads everything eventually stops imitating any single author and starts sounding like themselves. Ten thousand scrolls do not make you a copy. They make you a composite, and the composite is original because nobody else read the same ten thousand in the same order. The spirit at the tip of the pen is just everything you have absorbed, finally speaking in your voice.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeshīcí 詩詞
• FocusLooks ahead
• Element木 Wood
• Zodiac tie兔 Year of the Rabbit

Source Du Fu 杜甫, 'A Gift for Wei Zuo Cheng' 奉贈韋左丞丈 (Tang dynasty)

Sits beside

Keep reading

Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in Wisdom & Learning, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Rabbit, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.