Those who realize their folly are not true fools.

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

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.

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?

Rewards and punishment is the lowest form of education.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

A frog in a well cannot conceive of the ocean.

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.

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!

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

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

Good order results spontaneously when things are let alone.

To examine oneself makes good use of sight.

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

I think it's a lovely idea, but it will not pass the Congress. I live in a world of realities. The policy of our country is that we can drill our way to independence. I think that's a march to folly.

When knowledge is limited - it leads to folly... When knowledge exceeds a certain limit, it leads to exploitation.

In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might.

The obstinacy of cleverness and reason is nothing to the obstinacy of folly and inanity.

A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.

The preserve of ambition and folly in pursuit of illusion, or delusion.

True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not; he knoweth all things but his own ignorance.

The hours of folly are measured by the clock; but of wisdom, no clock can measure.

The folly of mistaking a paradox for a discovery, a metaphor for a proof, a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself for an oracle, is inborn in us.

In the vain laughter of folly wisdom hears half its applause.

Is there in all the history of human folly a greater fool than a clergymen in politics?

The enemy is within the gates; it is with our own luxury, our own folly, our own criminality that we have to contend.

Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise.

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools.