Zhuangzi Quotes

Only the intelligent knows how to identify all things as one. . . . When one is at ease with himself, one is near Tao. This is to let Nature take its own course.

Men honor what lies within the sphere of their knowledge, but do not realize how dependent they are on what lies beyond it.

Birth is not the beginning, Death is not the end.

Easy is right. Begin right and you are easy. Continue easy and you are right. The right way to go easy is to forget the right way, and forget that the going is easy.

When you are identified with the One, all things will be complete to you.

The one-legged creature is envious of the millipede; the millipede is envious of the snake; the snake is envious of the wind; the wind is envious of the eye; the eye is envious of the heart.

I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.

Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature.

The ultimate happiness is doing nothing.

He who regards all things as one is a companion of Nature.

The sage embraces things. Ordinary men discriminate amongst them and parade their discriminations before others. So I say; those who discriminate, fail to see.

The Way is to man as rivers and lakes are to fish, the natural condition of life.

Men do not mirror themselves in running water - they mirror themselves in still water. Only what is still can still the stillness of other things.

If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.

Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly...

Either in conflict with others or in harmony with them, we go through life like a runaway horse, unable to stop.

The World is Large - Its beauty indescrible.

You are still guided by your expectations.

The perfect man employs his mind as a mirror.

Human life is limited, but knowledge is limitless. To drive the limited in pursuit of the limitless is fatal; and to presume that one really knows is fatal indeed!

Those who realise their folly are not true fools.

Heaven does without doing through its purity, Earth does without doing through its calmness.

The creature born is the creature dying.

Life is finite, While knowledge is infinite.

Listening stops with the ears, the mind stops with recognition, but spirit is empty and waits on all things.

When the heart is right, "for" and "against" are forgotten.

If one is true to one's inner self, and follows its wisdom, who is without a teacher?

Good order results spontaneously when things are let alone

To have a human form is a joyful thing.

If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind.

The little child learns to speak, though it has no learned teachers - because it lives with those who know how to speak.

Words exist because of meaning; once you’ve gotten the meaning, you can forget the words.

If the Way is made clear, it is not the Way.

Let your mind wander in simplicity, blend your spirit with the vastness, follow along with things the way they are, and make no room for personal views-then the world will be governed.

Sound intelligence promises victory in every battle.

Running around accusing others is not as good as laughing. And enjoying a good laugh is not as good as going along with things.

To go outside what your charge was, and to try to solve everything yourself, is dangerous.

Tao is the source of both fullness and emptiness. But it is itself neither fullness nor emptiness.

He who pursues fame at the risk of losing his self is not a scholar.

How do I know that loving life is not a delusion? How do I know that in hating death I am not like a man who, having left home in his youth, has forgotten the way back?

It is only when the formed learns from the unformed that there is understanding.

Am I a human dreaming I am a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming I am a human?

The fish trap exists because of the fish: once you have gotten the meanings, you can forget the words.

Understanding that rests in what it does not understand is the finest.

When deeds and words are in accord, the whole world is transformed.

Breathing control gives man strength, vitality, inspiration, and magic powers.

When there is no more separation between 'this' and 'that,' it is called the still-point of the Tao. At the still point in the center of the circle one can see the infinite in all things.

I am going to try speaking some reckless words, and I want you to try to listen recklessly.

The perfect man of old looked after himself first before looking to help others.

People value that part of knowledge which is known. They do not know how to avail themselves of the Unknown in order to reach knowledge. Is this not misguided?