Nothing surpasses / best of all (莫过于)

Structure Topic + 莫过于 + the thing that tops it

莫过于 (mòguòyú) is a literary superlative: "nothing surpasses…", "the best/worst… is…". You first state a topic (人生乐事 "life's pleasures", 最痛苦的事 "the most painful thing") and then, after 莫过于, the thing that tops it: 人生乐事莫过于此 = "no pleasure in life surpasses this". 莫 keeps its literary sense of "nothing/no one" (mò) and 过于 means "to exceed". It belongs to essays and polished prose; in speech one would say 最…的就是… or 没有比…更…的.

Examples

人rén生shēng乐lè事shì，莫mò过guò于yú此cǐ。
Of life's pleasures, none surpasses this.
最zuì令lìng人rén欣xīn慰wèi的de，莫mò过guò于yú看kàn到dào学xué生shēng有yǒu所suǒ成chéng就jiù。
Nothing is more gratifying than seeing one's students achieve something.
读dú书shū之zhī乐lè，莫mò过guò于yú豁huò然rán开kāi朗lǎng的de那nà一yī刻kè。
In the joy of reading, nothing surpasses the moment of sudden clarity.
世shì间jiān憾hàn事shì，莫mò过guò于yú错cuò失shī良liáng机jī。
Of the world's regrets, none surpasses letting a good chance slip away.

Levels are indicative: they follow the standard Chinese Grammar Wiki (AllSet Learning) progression, not an official HSK 3.0 mapping. We never assign levels by eye.

This point and the other 370, with audio on every example, inside Wanyu.