William Shakespeare
c. 1598 · England · When his brother urges patience on him in his grief over his daughter
For there was never yet philosopher That could endure the toothache patiently, However they have writ the style of gods And made a push at chance and sufferance.
Much Ado About Nothing, Act 5, scene 1, spoken by Leonato
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Han Yu 韓愈
803 · Tang China · At thirty-six
Last year I lost a molar. This year I lost a front tooth. All at once six or seven are gone, and the falling shows no sign of stopping.
去年落一牙，今年落一齒。
俄然落六七，落勢殊未已。"Losing My Teeth," in the Complete Tang Poems
Han Yu 韓愈
803 · Tang China · On news of the death of the nephew he grew up with. Here he recalls a letter he sent him the year before
I am not yet forty, and my sight is dim, my hair is grey, and my teeth are loose.
吾年未四十，而視茫茫，而髮蒼蒼，而齒牙動搖。"Offering for My Nephew, the Twelfth"
Rudaki رودکی
earlier 10th century · Samanid Central Asia
Every tooth I had wore down and fell out. They were not teeth. No, they were shining lamps.
مرا بسود و فرو ریخت هر چه دندان بود
نبود دندان، لابل چراغ تابان بودRudaki's poem "Old Age"
Jeong Yakyong 丁若鏞
1832 · Joseon Korea · From a sequence of six written at seventy-one
One of an old man's pleasures: having no teeth comes next. To lose half is truly miserable. To have none at all is a satisfaction.
老人一快事 齒豁抑其次
半落誠可苦 全空乃得意Yeoyudang jeonseo, "An Old Man's Pleasures," second poem
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