Top 200 Zhuangzi Quotes (2025 Update)
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101. “One whose inner being is fixed upon such greatness emits a Heavenly glow. Even though he has this Heavenly glow, others will see him as just a man. Someone who has reached this point will begin to be consistent.”

— Zhuangzi

102. “The man who has forgotten self may be said to have entered Heaven.”

— Zhuangzi

103. “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.”

— Zhuangzi

104. “If one is true to one’s inner self, and follows its wisdom, who is without a teacher?”

— Zhuangzi

105. “The way comes about as we walk it.”

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

108. “The men of old breathed clear down to their heels.”

— Zhuangzi

109. “Sound intelligence promises victory in every battle.”

— Zhuangzi

110. “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?”

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

113. “Yet the stupid believe they are awake, busily and brightly assuming they understand things, calling this man ruler, that one herdsman – how dense! Confucius and you are both dreaming! And when I say you are dreaming, I am dreaming, too. Words like these will be labeled the Supreme Swindle.”

— Zhuangzi

114. “If the Way is made clear, it is not the Way.”

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

118. “The man who has some respect for his person keeps his carcass out of sight, hides himself as perfectly as he can.”

— Zhuangzi

119. “The enlightened attention rejects nothing nor welcomes anything-like a mirror it responds equally to all.”

— Zhuangzi

120. “Cherish that which is in you and shut out that which is without, for much knowledge is a curse.”

— Zhuangzi

121. “You are still guided by your expectations.”

— Zhuangzi

122. “To examine oneself makes good use of sight.”

— Zhuangzi

123. “To have a human form is a joyful thing.”

— Zhuangzi

124. “A man who knows he is a fool is not a great fool.”

— Zhuangzi

125. “A petty thief is put in jail. A great brigand becomes a ruler of a Nation.”

— Zhuangzi

126. “Your life has a limit, but knowledge has none. If you use what is limited to pursue what has no limit, you will be in danger.”

— Zhuangzi

127. “You can’t discuss the ocean with a well frog – he’s limited by the space he lives in. You can’t discuss ice with a summer insect – he’s bound to a single season.”

— Zhuangzi

128. “Great knowledge is universal. Small knowledge is limited. Great words are inspiring; small words are chatter.”

— Zhuangzi

129. “When the heart is right, “for” and “against” are forgotten.”

— Zhuangzi

130. “By ethical argument and moral principle the greatest crimes are eventually shown to have been necessary, and, in fact, a signal benefit to mankind.”

— Zhuangzi

131. “There may be difficulty at the moment, but I will not lose the Virtue that I possess. It is when the ice and snow are on them that we see the strength of the cypress and the pine. I am grateful for this trouble around me, because it gives me an opportunity to realize how fortunate I am.”

— Zhuangzi

132. “My description of wisdom has nothing to do with benevolence and righteousness, it is to do with being wise in one’s own virtue, nothing more. My description of being has nothing to do with benevolence and righteousness, it is that one should be led by one’s innate nature, nothing more.”

— Zhuangzi

133. “Emptiness is the fasting of the mind.”

— Zhuangzi

134. “Heaven is like an egg, and the earth is like the yolk of the egg.”

— Zhuangzi

135. “So if loss of what gives happiness causes you distress when it fades, you can now understand that such happiness is worthless. It is said, those who lose themselves in their desire for things also lose their innate nature by being vulgar.”

— Zhuangzi

136. “Waiting for changing opinions is like waiting for nothing.”

— Zhuangzi

137. “The Tao has no place for pettiness, and nor has Virtue. Pettiness is dangerous to Virtue; pettiness is dangerous to the Tao. It is said, rectify yourself and be done.”

— Zhuangzi

138. “Now, when ordinary people attempt to find happiness, I am not sure whether the happiness is really happiness or not. I study what ordinary people do to find happiness, what they struggle for, rushing about apparently unable to stop.”

— Zhuangzi

139. “The greatest tragedy that can befall a person is the atrophy of his mind.”

— Zhuangzi

140. “Are you and I perchance caught up in a dream from which we have not yet awakened?”

— Zhuangzi

141. “That knowledge which stops at what it does not know, is the highest knowledge.”

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

143. “The Perfect Man uses his mind like a mirror – going after nothing, welcoming nothing, responding but not storing.”

— Zhuangzi

144. “The creature born is the creature dying.”

— Zhuangzi

145. “I obtained life because the time was right. I will lose life because it is time. Those who go quietly with the flow of nature are not worried by either joy or sorrow. People like these were considered in the past as having achieved freedom from bondage. Those who cannot free themselves are constrained by things.”

— Zhuangzi

146. “So it is said, for him who understands Heavenly joy, life is the working of Heaven; death is the transformation of things. In stillness, he and the yin share a single Virtue; in motion, he and the yang share a single flow.”

— Zhuangzi

147. “If you have grasped the purpose of life there is no point in trying to make life into something it is not or cannot be.”

— Zhuangzi

148. “You have only to rest in inaction and things will transform themselves. Smash your form and body, spit out hearing and eyesight, forget you are a thing among other things, and you may join in great unity with the deep and boundless.”

— Zhuangzi

149. “The World is Large – Its beauty indescrible.”

— Zhuangzi

150. “The knowledge of the ancients reached the highest point-the time before anything existed. This is the highest point. It is exhaustive. There is no adding to it.”

— Zhuangzi