The Zhuangzi (369BCE–286BCE) is an ancient Chinese text from the late Warring States period which contains stories and anecdotes that exemplify the carefree nature of the ideal Daoist sage. Named for its traditional author, “Master Zhuang”, the Zhuangzi is one of the two foundational texts of Daoism—along with the Dao De Jing—and is generally considered the most important of all Daoist writings.
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He who pursues fame at the risk of losing his self is not a scholar.
—Zhuangzi
Topics: Fame
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
Topics: Ethics
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.
—Zhuangzi
I know the joy of fishes in the river through my own joy, as I go walking along the same river.
—Zhuangzi
All that is limited by form, semblance, sound, color is called object. Among them all, man alone is more than an object. Though, like objects, he has form and semblance, He is not limited to form. He is more. He can attain to formlessness. When he is beyond form and semblance, beyond this and that, where is the comparison with another object? Where is the conflict? What can stand in his way? He will rest in his eternal place which is no-place. He will be hidden in his own unfathomable secret. His nature sinks to its root in the One. His vitality, his power hide in secret Tao.
—Zhuangzi
Topics: Man
A man who knows he is a fool is not a great fool.
—Zhuangzi
Topics: Awareness
The perfect man uses his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing, it rejects nothing. It receives but does not keep.
—Zhuangzi
Everyone knows the usefulness of the useful, but n o one knows the usefulness of the useless.
—Zhuangzi
Topics: The Past
Luck implies an absolute absence of any principle.
—Zhuangzi
Topics: Luck
Rewards and punishment is the lowest form of education.
—Zhuangzi
Topics: Education
Perfect happiness is the absence of striving for happiness.
—Zhuangzi
Topics: Happiness
A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.
—Zhuangzi
Topics: Communication
The sound of water says what I think.
—Zhuangzi
Topics: One liners
When there is no more separation between ‘this’ and ‘that,’ it is called the still-point of the Tao. At the still point in the center of the circle one can see the infinite in all things.
—Zhuangzi
If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the The Universe speculum of all creation.
—Zhuangzi
Let everything be allowed to do what it naturally does, so that its nature will be satisfied.
—Zhuangzi
Topics: Satisfaction
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.
—Zhuangzi
The torch of doubt and chaos is what the sage steers by.
—Zhuangzi
Topics: Doubt
Flow with whatever is happening and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.
—Zhuangzi
Topics: Acceptance, Difficulty
Easy is right. Begin right, and you will be 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.
—Zhuangzi
Topics: Perfection
Horses have hoofs to carry them over frost and snow; hair, to protect them from wind and cold. They eat grass and drink water, and fling up their heels…. Such is the real nature of horses.
—Zhuangzi
My opinion is that you never find happiness until you stop looking for it.
—Zhuangzi
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