“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.”

Men honor what lies within the sphere of their knowledge, but do not realize how dependent they are on what lies beyond it.

The enlightened attention rejects nothing nor welcomes anything-like a mirror it responds equally to all.

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.

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.

Where can I find a man who has forgotten words, so I can have a few words with him?

A frog in a well cannot conceive of the ocean.

Tao is the source of both fullness and emptiness. But it is itself neither fullness nor emptiness.

Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.

Men do not mirror themselves in running water – they mirror themselves in still water. Only what is still can still the stillness of other things.

The men of old breathed clear down to their heels.

When deeds and words are in accord, the whole world is transformed.

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?

The greatest tragedy that can befall a person is the atrophy of his mind.

Understanding that rests in what it does not understand is the finest.

The sage embraces things. Ordinary men discriminate amongst them and parade their discriminations before others. So I say; those who discriminate, fail to see.

He who regards all things as one is a companion of Nature.

You know you love someone when you cannot put into words how they make you feel.

Absolute power, as we have always known, corrupts absolutely; it corrupts because it does not do the trick for the individual.

The wise man, knowing how to enjoy achieved results without having constantly to replace them with others, finds in them an attachment to life in the hour of difficulty.

I do not know which makes a man more conservative – to know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past.

Know yourself to improve yourself.

We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.

Is it possible that nobody has ever known that there never has been a completely civilized man, and won’t be for another thousand years?

The considerations upon which expectations of prospective yields are based are partly existing facts which we can assume to be known more or less for certain, and partly future events which can only be forecasted with more or less confidence.