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All men know the utility of useful things; but they do not know the utility of futility.

Zhuangzi

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

Constant Happiness Nature Oneself Perfection Realize
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

Beautiful Existence Rare Regard Transformation Ugly Value
The man who has some respect for his person keeps his carcass out of sight, hides himself as perfectly as he can.
ZHUANGZI

Hide Himself Man Perfection Person Respect Sight
The living all find death unpleasant; men mourn over it. And yet, what is death, but the unbending of the bow and its return to its case?
ZHUANGZI

Case Death Finding Live Pleasant Return
He who does his work like a machine grows a heart like a machine and he who carries the heart of a machine in his breast loses his simplicity. He who has lost his simplicity becomes unsure in the strivings of his soul.
ZHUANGZI

Carry Growth Himself Lose Machine Work
Heaven does without doing through its purity, Earth does without doing through its calmness.
ZHUANGZI

Calm Earth Heaven Purity
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

Better Choice King Man Position Stream Wisdom World
Those who follow the Tao are of clear mind. They do not load their mind with anxieties and are flexible in their adjustment to external conditions.
ZHUANGZI

Anxiety Condition Follow Mindset Religious
You are still guided by your expectations.
ZHUANGZI

Expectation Guide Yourself
He who regards all things as one is a companion of Nature.
ZHUANGZI

Himself Infinite Nature Oneself Regard Whole
A battering ram can knock down a city wall, but it cannot stop a hole. Different things have different uses.
ZHUANGZI

Different Power Stop Wall
The space under the sky is occupied by all things in their unity.
ZHUANGZI

Occupy Sky Space Unity
Life comes from the earth and life returns to the earth.
ZHUANGZI

Earth Life Nature Return
The sound of water says what I think.
ZHUANGZI

Myself Sound Thinking Water
All men know the use of the useful, but nobody knows the use of the useless. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so that I can have a word with him?
ZHUANGZI

Forget Himself Man Word
Do not struggle. Go with the flow of things, and you will find yourself at one with the mysterious unity of the Universe.
ZHUANGZI

Flow Spiritual Struggle Universe Yourself

All men know the utility of useful things; but they do not know the utility of futility.

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All men know the utility of useful things; but they do not know the utility of futility.

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