A classical Chinese line for “I would rather be alone than settle”

After choosing through every cold branch, it still refuses to settle, alone on the chilly sandbar.

Plain meaningI would rather remain alone than settle where I do not belong.

In a lone boat, an old man in a straw cape fishes alone in the snowy river cold.

Plain meaningOne person remains steady in a vast and empty winter world.

We look at each other without tiring—only Mount Jingting and I.

Plain meaningNature can be the companion that never exhausts you.

Thinking of the endlessness of heaven and earth, alone in sorrow I shed tears.

Plain meaningThe scale of time and the world can make one person's loneliness feel overwhelming.

No one knows me in the deep forest; the bright moon comes to shine upon me.

Plain meaningEven in solitude, the moon can feel like quiet company.

After fresh rain in the empty mountains, the evening air turns autumnal.

Plain meaningRain clears the world and autumn quietly arrives.