Zhuang Zhou Quotes

The wise man knows that it is better to sit on the banks of a remote mountain stream than to be emperor of the whole world.

The fish trap exists because of the fish. Once you've gotten the fish you can forget the trap. The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit. Once you've gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words exist because of meaning. Once you've gotten the meaning, you can forget the words. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can talk with him?

The mountain forests, the great open plains! Shall they make me joyful, shall they fill me with happiness? But even before my joy is done, sorrow has come to take its place. When joy and sorrow come I cannot stop them from coming, and when they go I cannot keep them from going. How sad it is! The people of the world these days are nothing more than lodging houses for external things. They know all about what they encounter but not about what is never encountered.

With all the confusion in the world these days, no matter how often I point the way, what good does it do? And if I know it does no good and still make myself do it, this too is a kind of confusion. So it is best to leave things alone and not force them. If I don't force things, at least I won't cause anyone any worry.

To try to govern the world by doubling the number of sages would merely double the profits of the great robbers. If you create pounds and ounces to measure them with, they’ll steal the pounds and ounces and use them to rob you further. If you make scales and balances to regulate them with, they’ll steal the scales and balances and use them to rob you more. If you create tallies and seals to enforce their reliability, they’ll steal the tallies and seals and use them to rob you too. If you create ideals of humankindness and responsible conduct to regulate them with, why, they’ll just steal humankindness and responsible conduct and use them to rob you all the more. How do I know this is so? He who steals a belt buckle is executed, but he who steals a state becomes a feudal lord.

Atlar karada yaşar, ot yer ve su içer. Memnun olduklarında boyunlarını birbirine dolayıp birbirlerine sürtünürler. Sinirlendiklerinde dönüp birbirlerini çiftelerler. Bunların hepsi atların içgüdüleridir. Ama atlar boyunduruk altına alınıp süslendiklerinde çıtaları kırmayı, boyunlarını kaldırmayı, vahşi davranmayı, tükürmeyi ve dizginlerini ısırmayı bilirler. Bu nedenle atların insanlara karşı koyacak kadar kurnaz olması Bo Le'nin hatasıdır.

Hükümdar Hexu'nun zamanında insanlar ne yapacaklarını ve nereye gideceklerini bilmeden hayatlarını boşa harcardı. Karınları toktu ve mutluydular. İnsanların yapabileceği tek şey buydu. Bilgeler dünyaya gelince, dünyayı düzeltmek için müzik ve törenleri icat ettiler; bilgi ve servet için sonsuz çaba göstermeye başlayan insanların kalbini rahatlatmak için insanlığı ve doğruluğu artırdılar. Bu da bilgelerin hatasıdır.

A beam or pillar can be used to batter down a city wall, but it is no good for stopping up a little hole - this refers to a difference in function. Thoroughbreds like Qiji and Hualiu could gallop a thousand li in one day, but when it came to catching rats they were no match for the wildcat or the weasel - this refers to a difference in skill. The horned owl catches fleas at night and can spot the tip of a hair, but when daylight comes, no matter how wide it opens its eyes, it cannot see a mound or a hill - this refers to a difference in nature. Now do you say, that you are going to make Right your master and do away with Wrong, or make Order your master and do away with Disorder? If you do, then you have not understood the principle of heaven and earth or the nature of the ten thousand things. This is like saying that you are going to make Heaven your master and do away with Earth, or make Yin your master and do away with Yang. Obviously it is impossible.

The dao is at the limit of the world of things. Speech and silence are not adequate to represent the idea of it. Neither speech nor silence can be the highest expression of our thinking about it.

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

The purpose of a fish trap is to catch fish, and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten. The purpose of words is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten. Where can I find a man who has forgotten the words, so that I can talk to him?

All men know the use of the useful, but nobody knows the use of the useless!

You forget your feet when the shoes are comfortable. You forget your waist when the belt is comfortable. Understanding forgets right and wrong when the mind is comfortable. There is no change in what is inside, no following what is outside, when the adjustment to events is comfortable. You begin with what is comfortable and never experience what is uncomfortable when you know the comfort of forgetting what is comfortable.

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?

Zhuangzi said, “Affirming some things as right and negating others as wrong are what I call the characteristic inclinations. What I call being free of them means not allowing likes and dislikes to damage you internally, instead making it your constant practice to follow along with the way each thing is of itself, going by (5:23) whatever it affirms as right, without trying to add anything to the process of life.

But a gentleman may embrace a doctrine without necessarily wearing the garb that goes with it, and he may wear the garb without necessarily comprehending the doctrine.