一yī花huā獨dú放fàng不bù是shì春chūn，百bǎi花huā齊qí放fàng春chūn滿mǎn園yuán

What does 一花獨放不是春，百花齊放春滿園 (yī huā dú fàng bù shì chūn bǎi huā qí fàng chūn mǎn yuán) mean?

一花獨放不是春，百花齊放春滿園 (yī huā dú fàng bù shì chūn bǎi huā qí fàng chūn mǎn yuán) is a folk proverb (yànyǔ 諺語). Word for word it reads "one flower blooming alone is not spring; a hundred flowers blooming together, spring fills the garden." In use it means: One person's achievement alone is not prosperity; when all flourish together, the whole world blooms. 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 Goat.

Literally: "one flower blooming alone is not spring; a hundred flowers blooming together, spring fills the garden."

The reading

The single flower is beautiful and entirely itself, but it is not spring. Spring is the condition when a hundred kinds of flowers have decided together that the time has come and the garden fills with the agreement of that collective blooming. What one cannot be alone becomes possible when enough others arrive at the same moment. This is what abundance looks like from inside.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeyànyǔ 諺語
• FocusPresent-minded
• Element木 Wood
• Zodiac tie羊 Year of the Goat

Source Traditional Chinese saying; modern usage in Mao Zedong era

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 Friendship, Trust & Speech, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Goat, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.