When an archer shoots for enjoyment, he has all his skill; when he shoots for a brass buckle, he gets nervous; when he shoots for a prize of gold, he begins to see two targets.
ZHUANGZIHe who pursues fame at the risk of losing his self is not a scholar.
More Zhuangzi Quotes
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Transmit the established facts; do not transmit words of exaggeration. If you do that, you will probably come out all right.
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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.
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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.
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The sage has the sun and moon by his side and the universe under his arm. He blends everything into a harmonious whole. . . . He blends the disparities of ten thousand years into one complete purity. All things are blended like this and mutually involve each other.
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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.
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The perfect man uses his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing. It regrets nothing. It receives but does not keep.
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The greatest tragedy that can befall a person is the atrophy of his mind.
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Those who realise their folly are not true fools.
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Silence, and non action are the root of all things.
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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.
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If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind.
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Do not let the artificial obliterate the natural; do not let will obliterate destiny; do not let virtue be sacrificed to fame.
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Words exist because of meaning; once you’ve gotten the meaning, you can forget the words.
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Men honor what lies within the sphere of their knowledge, but do not realize how dependent they are on what lies beyond it.
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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.
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The man who has some respect for his person keeps his carcass out of sight, hides himself as perfectly as he can.
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Only fools imagine they are already awake. How clearly they understand everything! How easily they distinguish this deception from that reality!
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If one is true to one’s inner self, and follows its wisdom, who is without a teacher?
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The creature born is the creature dying.
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The eye is a menace to clear sight, the ear is a menace to subtle hearing, the mind is a menace to wisdom, every organ of the senses is a menace to its own capacity.
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True men” are strong willed, have dignity in their demeanor, serenity in their expression. They are cool like autumn, warm like spring. Their passions arise like the four seasons, in harmony with the ten thousand creatures, and no one knows their limits.
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Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious. Great speech is impassioned, small speech cantankerous.
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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.
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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.
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There is a beginning. There is no beginning of that beginning. There is something. There is nothing.
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Look at this window: it is nothing but a hole in the wall, but because of it the whole room is full of light. So when the faculties are empty, the heart is full of light.
ZHUANGZI