Lord Di of Xiagui (figure cited by Grand Historian Sima Qian, c. 145-90 BCE)
“When you’re alive one moment, all but dead the next, then you
know who your friends are.
When you’re rich one moment, poor the next, then you know the
quality of friendship.
When you’re lordly one moment, lowly the next, then friendship
shows its true face.”
- This quote is an inscription attributed to Lord Di of Xiagui, recorded in Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji 120) by Sima Qian. Translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1993).
