Top 200 Zhuangzi Quotes (2025 Update)
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151. “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

152. “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

153. “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

154. “When I talk about having good hearing, I don’t mean just listening, but listening to yourself. When I talk about good eyesight, I don’t mean just looking, but looking at yourself.”

— Zhuangzi

155. “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

156. “Heaven cannot but be high. Earth cannot but be broad. The sun and moon cannot but revolve. All creation cannot but flourish. To do so is their TAO. But it is not from extensive study that this may be known, nor by dialectical skill that his may be made clear. The true sage will have none of these.”

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

158. “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

159. “In the midst of darkness, he alone sees the dawn; in the midst of the soundless, he alone hears harmony.”

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

163. “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

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

— Zhuangzi

165. “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

166. “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

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

— Zhuangzi

168. “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

169. “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

170. “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

171. “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

172. “If you wish to care for your body, first of all take care of material things, though even when you have all the things you want, the body can still be uncared for.”

— Zhuangzi

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

— Zhuangzi

174. “When you’re betting for tiles in an archery contest, you shoot with skill. When you’re betting for fancy belt buckles, you worry about your aim. And when you’re betting for real gold, you’re a nervous wreck. Your skill is the same in all three cases – but because one prize means more to you than another, you let outside considerations weigh on your mind. He who looks too hard at the outside gets clumsy on the inside.”

— Zhuangzi

175. “A battering ram can knock down a city wall, but it cannot stop a hole. Different things have different uses.”

— Zhuangzi

176. “Don’t go in and hide; don’t come out and shine; stand stock-still in the middle.”

— Zhuangzi

177. “Man may rest in the eternal fitness; he may abide in the everlasting; and roam from the beginning to the end of all creation. He may bring his nature to a condition of ONE, he may nourish his strength; he may harmonise his virtue, and so put himself into partnership with God.”

— Zhuangzi

178. “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

179. “Words have value; what is of value in words is meaning. Meaning has something it is pursuing, but the thing that it is pursuing cannot be put into words and handed down.”

— Zhuangzi

180. “He who steals a belt buckle pays with his life; he who steals a state gets to be a feudal lord.”

— Zhuangzi

181. “Things joined by profit, when pressed by misfortune and danger, will cast each other aside.”

— Zhuangzi

182. “Only fools imagine they are already awake. How clearly they understand everything! How easily they distinguish this deception from that reality!”

— Zhuangzi

183. “The hundred parts of the body are all complete in their places. Which should one prefer? Do you like them all equally? Are they all servants? Are they unable to control one another and need a ruler? Or do they become rulers and servants in turn? Is there any true ruler other than themselves?”

— Zhuangzi

184. “Although things seem to be sometimes going up and sometimes descending, sometimes slipping away, nevertheless there is a reality, the same today as in the past. It does not change, for nothing can affect it. Could we not say it is one great harmony? So why shouldn’t we ask about it...”

— Zhuangzi

185. “My most interesting memory is of my first real dream. I was a caterpillar, wriggling around in the earth, just the way a caterpillar would. Following my caterpillar whims, completely unaware of anyone.”

— Zhuangzi

186. “To go outside what your charge was, and to try to solve everything yourself, is dangerous.”

— Zhuangzi

187. “The true man of the past waited upon Heaven when dealing with people and did not wait upon people when dealing with Heaven.”

— Zhuangzi

188. “Can a man cling to the positive without any negative in contrast to which it is seen to be positive? If he claims to do so he is a rouge or a madman.”

— Zhuangzi

189. “Moreover, I have heard that those who are fond of praising men to their faces are also fond of damning them behind their backs.”

— Zhuangzi

190. “To have a human form of a joyful thing. But in the universe of possible forms, there are others just as good.”

— Zhuangzi

191. “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

192. “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

193. “To use a horse to show that a horse is not a horse is not as good as using a non-horse to show that a horse is not a horse...”

— Zhuangzi

194. “Thus, the Sage uses various rights and wrongs to harmonize with others and yet remains at rest in the middle of Heaven the Potter’s Wheel.”

— Zhuangzi

195. “If you were to hide the world in the world, so that nothing could get away, this would be the final reality of the constancy of things.”

— Zhuangzi

196. “For all people strive to grasp what they do not know, while none strive to grasp what they already know; and all strive to discredit what they do not excel in, while none strive to discredit what they do excel in. This is why there is chaos.”

— Zhuangzi

197. “To use a finger as a metaphor for the nonfingerness of a finger is not as good as using nonfingerness as a metaphor for the nonfingerness of a finger.”

— Zhuangzi

198. “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.”

— Zhuangzi

199. “How do I know that the dead don’t regret the way they used to cling to life?”

— Zhuangzi

200. “The true man breathes with his heels.”

— Zhuangzi