The perfect man of old looked after himself first before looking to help others.
ZHUANGZIThere 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.
More Zhuangzi Quotes
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He who knows he is a fool is not the biggest fool; He who knows he is confused is not in the worst confusion.
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Human life is limited, but knowledge is limitless. To drive the limited in pursuit of the limitless is fatal; and to presume that one really knows is fatal indeed!
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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.
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He who knows the activities of Nature lives according to Nature.
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If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind.
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Great understanding is broad and unhurried; little understanding is cramped and busy.
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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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Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free.
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Let everything be allowed to do what it naturally does, so that its nature will be satisfied.
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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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Perfect happiness is the absence of striving for happiness.
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Luck implies an absolute absence of any principle.
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When deeds and words are in accord, the whole world is transformed.
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Let your mind wander in the pure and simple. Be one with the infinite. Let all things take their course.
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To have a human form is a joyful thing.
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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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True depth of understanding is wide and steady, Shallow understanding is lazy and wandering, Words of wisdom are precise and clear.
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Study is to study what cannot be studied. Undertaking means undertaking what cannot be undertaken. Philosophizing is to philosophize about what cannot be philosophized about. Knowing that knowing is unknowable is true perfection.
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Cherish that which is in you and shut out that which is without, for much knowledge is a curse.
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Birth is not the beginning, Death is not the end.
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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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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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Words exist because of meaning; once you’ve gotten the meaning, you can forget the words.
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Standards are different for all things, so the standard set by man is by no means the only ‘certain’ standard. If you mistake what is relative for something certain, you have strayed far from the ultimate truth.
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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 creature born is the creature dying.
ZHUANGZI