Zhuangzi

Cherish that which is within you, and shut off that which is without; for much knowledge is a curse.

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.

We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.

Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can talk with him?

All existing things are really one. We regard those that are beautiful and rare as valuable, and those that are ugly as foul and rotten The foul and rotten may come to be transformed into what is rare and valuable, and the rare and valuable into what is foul and rotten.

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.

Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.

I dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke. Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?

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

To examine oneself makes good use of sight.

Take care of your body, then the rest will automatically become stronger.

A frog in a well cannot conceive of the ocean.

Cherish that which is within you and shut off what which is without for much knowledge is a curse.

Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can have a word with him?

Rewards and punishment is the lowest form of education.

To lead others, one must find one’s own direction.

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!

Men of this world all rejoice in others being like themselves, and object to others not being like themselves.

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 realize their folly are not true fools.

We are born from a quiet sleep, and we die to a calm awakening.

Only he who has no use for the empire is fit to be entrusted with it.

Forget the years, forget distinctions. Leap into the boundless and make it your home.

Life comes from the earth and life returns to the earth.

We cling to our own point of view as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence like autumn and winter they gradually pass away.

You cannot speak of ocean to a well-frog, the creature of a narrower sphere. You cannot speak of ice to a summer insect, the creature of a season.

Do not struggle. Go with the flow of things, and you will find yourself at one with the mysterious unity of the Universe.

Good order results spontaneously when things are let alone.

Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious.

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

Eyes that are blind have no way to tell the loveliness of faces and features eyes with no pupils have no way to tell the beauty of colored and embroidered silks.

Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.

The petty thief is imprisoned but the big thief becomes a feudal lord.

I know the joy of fishes in the river through my own joy, as I go walking along the same river.