ZUANGHZI

Everyone knows the usefulness of the useful, but n o one knows the usefulness of the useless.

The petty thief is imprisoned but the big thief becomes a feudal lord”

Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was myself. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.

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.

You can't discuss the ocean with a well frog - he's limited by the space he lives in. You can't discuss ice with a summer insect - he's bound to a single season.

If you can empty your own boat

Crossing the river of the world,

No one will oppose you,

No one will seek to harm you

Now she's going to lie down peacefully in a vast room. If I were to follow after her bawling and sobbing, it would show that I don't understand anything about fate. So I stopped.

The one-legged creature is envious of the millipede; the millipede is envious of the snake; the snake is envious of the wind; the wind is envious of the eye; the eye is envious of the heart.

The True Man of ancient times knew nothing of loving life, knew nothing of hating death. He emerged without delight; he went back in without a fuss. He came briskly, he went briskly, and that was all. He didn't forget where he began; he didn't try to find out where he would end. He received something and took pleasure in it; he forgot about it and handed it back again.

Life, death, preservation, loss, failure, success, poverty, riches, worthiness, unworthiness, slander, fame, hunger, thirst, cold, heat - these are the alternations of the world, the workings of fate. Day and night they change place before us, and wisdom cannot spy out their source. Therefore, they should not be enough to destroy your harmony; they should not be allowed to enter the storehouse of the spirit. If you can harmonize and delight in them, master them and never be at a loss for joy; if you can do this day and night without break and make it be spring with everything, mingling with all and creating the moment within your own mind - this is what I call being whole in power.

Joy and anger,

sorrow and happiness,

caution and remorse

Come upon us by turns,

with ever changing mood.

They come like music from hollows,

like wood when played by the wind,

or how mushrooms grow from the damp.

Daily and nightly they alternate within

but we cannot tell whence they spring.

Without these emotions I should not be.

Without me, they would have no instrument”

You will always find an answer in the sound of water.