莫待無花空折枝

Mandarin

simpl.		莫待无花空折枝
trad.		莫待無花空折枝

Literally: If a flower is blooming, and you can pluck it, go ahead and pluck it.

c. 8 - 9th century 杜秋娘 (Du Qiuniang), 金缕衣 (The Golden Dress)
勸君莫惜金縷衣，勸君惜取少年時，花開堪折直須折，莫待無花空折枝
Love not your golden dress, I pray, More than your youthful golden hours! Gather sweet flowers while you may, And not the twig of flowers! (300 Tang Poems, A New Translation, Edited by Xu Yuan-zhong, Loh Bei-yei and Wu Juntao, ISBN 957-586-278-3, p. 309)

莫待無花空折枝 (traditional, Pinyin mò dài wú huā kōng zhé zhī, simplified 莫待无花空折枝)

seize the day; carpe diem.
- 2005: 安妮玫瑰 (Anne Rose), 翡翠护身符 (Excerpt from "The Jadeite Amulet")
  這誰也不能怪，只能怪自己，輕易不肯愛上，愛了又不肯輕易放下，雖說花開堪折直須折，莫待無花空折枝，但是享受著愛情之花的時候，即使折了，又怎樣？不還是一樣結不出婚姻之果嗎。
  No one is to blame but me for this. I was so casual and unwilling to commit to love. Then, when I did fall in love, I was unwilling to casually let it go. People always say things like carpe diem and gather ye rosebuds while ye may. But, when it comes to enjoying the rosebuds of love, even if you gather them, then what? Isn't the result the same, that we can never be married?

"莫待無花空折枝" (in Mandarin), Guoyu Cidian On-line Mandarin Dictionary (國語辭典). URL accessed on 2009-01-09.