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

— Zhuangzi

102. “He who knows the activities of Nature lives according to Nature.”

— Zhuangzi

103. “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

104. “To be constant is to be useful. To be useful is to realize one’s true nature. Realization of one’s true nature is happiness. When one reaches happiness, one is close to perfection.”

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

108. “The Portal of God is nonexistence. All things sprang from nonexistence. Existence could not make existence existence. It must have proceeded from nonexistence, and nonexistence and nothing are one. Herein is the abiding place of the sage.”

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

110. “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

111. “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

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

— Zhuangzi

113. “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

114. “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

115. “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

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

— Zhuangzi

117. “In an archery contest, when the stakes are earthenware tiles a contestant shoots with skill. When the stakes are belt buckles he becomes hesitant, and if the stakes are pure gold he becomes nervous and confused. There is no difference as to his skil.”

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

120. “The Tao is in all things, in their divisions and their fullness. What I dislike about divisions is that they multiply, and what i dislike about multiplication is that it makes people want to hold fast to it. So people go out and forget to return, seeing little more than ghosts.”

— Zhuangzi

121. “There is danger for the eye in seeing too clearly, danger for the ear in hearing too sharply and danger to the heart from caring too greatly.”

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

123. “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

124. “Heaven does without doing through its purity, Earth does without doing through its calmness.”

— Zhuangzi

125. “Right is not right; so is not so. If right were really right it would differ so clearly from not right that there would be no need for argument. If so were really so, it would differ so clearly from not so that there would be no need for argument.”

— Zhuangzi

126. “Transmit the established facts; do not transmit words of exaggeration. If you do that, you will probably come out all right.”

— Zhuangzi

127. “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?”

— Zhuangzi

128. “Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly...”

— Zhuangzi

129. “We possess our body by chance and we are already pleased with it. If our physical bodies went through ten thousand transformations without end, how incomparable would this joy be! Therefore the sage roams freely in the realm in which nothing can escape, but all endures.”

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

132. “When the shoe fits, the foot is forgotten. When the belt fits, the belly is forgotten. When the heart is right, “for” and “against” are forgotten. No drives, no compulsions, no needs, no attractions: Then your affairs are under control. You are a free man.”

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

134. “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.”

— Zhuangzi

135. “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

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

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

138. “Thus, those who say they would have right without its correlate, wrong; or good government without its correlate, misrule, do not apprehend the great principles of the universe, nor the nature of all creation.”

— Zhuangzi

139. “A fish-trap is for catching fish; once you’ve caught the fish, you can forget about the trap. A rabbit-snare is for catching rabbits; once you’ve caught the rabbit, you can forget about the snare. Words are for catching ideas; once you’ve caught the idea, you can forget about the words. Where can I find a person who knows how to forget about words so that I can have a few words with them?”

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

141. “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

142. “Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious. Great speech is impassioned, small speech cantankerous.”

— Zhuangzi

143. “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.”

— Zhuangzi

144. “If we look on heaven and earth as a single crucible, and on the creator as the founder, would there be any place I could not go? When it is time, I will fall asleep, and when the right time comes, I will wake up again.”

— Zhuangzi

145. “There are no greater adversaries than yin and yang, because nothing in Heaven or on Earth escapes them. But it is not yin and yang that do this, it is your heart that makes it so.”

— Zhuangzi

146. “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

147. “The whole world is incapable of judging either right or wrong. but it is certain that actionless action can judge both right and wrong.”

— Zhuangzi

148. “Good order results spontaneously when things are let alone.”

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

150. “But you now, you wear your soul on your sleeve, exhausting your energy, propping yourself up on a tree, mumbling, or bent over your desk, asleep. Heaven gives you a form and you wear it out by pointless argument.”

— Zhuangzi