He who pursues fame at the risk of losing his self is not a scholar.
ZHUANGZIStudy 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.
More Zhuangzi Quotes
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The perfect man of old looked after himself first before looking to help others.
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The enlightened attention rejects nothing nor welcomes anything-like a mirror it responds equally to all.
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To be truly ignorant, be content with your own knowledge.
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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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Birth is not a beginning; death is not an end. There is existence without limitation; there is continuity without a starting point.
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Good fortune is as light as a feather, but nobody knows how to pick it up. Misfortune is as heavy as earth, but nobody knows how to stay out of it’s way.
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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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A petty thief is put in jail. A great brigand becomes a ruler of a Nation.
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Forget the years, forget distinctions. Leap into the boundless and make it your home!
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Rewards and punishments are the lowest form of education.
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The effect of life in society is to complicate and confuse our existence, making us forget who we really are by causing us to become obsessed with what we are not.
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Being is thoughtless-beyond and beneath all categories of thought. Expression is the realization of creative thought. Being is still; expression, moving. But then if I do not strive, who will?
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The perfect man employs his mind as a mirror.
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The ultimate happiness is doing nothing.
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Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature.
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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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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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The greatest tragedy that can befall a person is the atrophy of his mind.
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Good order results spontaneously when things are let alone.
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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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One whose inner being is fixed upon such greatness emits a Heavenly glow. Even though he has this Heavenly glow, others will see him as just a man. Someone who has reached this point will begin to be consistent.
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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?
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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.
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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?
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Great understanding is broad and unhurried; little understanding is cramped and busy.
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