Chuang Tzu > Quotes

“In a dream I saw myself as a great and colorful butterfly; now I am not sure if I am Chuang-Tsu dreaming I was a butterfly, or I am a butterfly dreaming I am Chuang-Tsu.”
― Chuang Tzu

“The morning mushroom knows nothing of twilight and dawn; the summer cicada knows nothing of spring and autumn.”
― Chuang Tzu

“Every one alas! regards the course he prefers as the infallible course. The various schools diverge never to meet again; and posterity is debarred from viewing the original purity of the universe and the grandeur of the ancients. For the system of TAO is scattered in fragments over the face of the earth.”
― Chuang Tzu, The Book of Chuang Tzu

“Beating a drum in search of a fugitive...”
― Chuang Tzu

“Prince Wei of the Ch’u State, hearing of Chuang Tzŭ’s good report, sent messengers to him, bearing costly gifts, and inviting him to become Prime Minister. At this Chuang Tzŭ smiled and said to the messengers, “You offer me great wealth and a proud position indeed; but have you never seen a sacrificial ox?When after being fattened up for several years, it is decked with embroidered trappings and led to the altar, would it not willingly then change places with some uncared-for pigling? …… Begone! Defile me not! I would rather disport myself to my own enjoyment in the mire than be slave to the ruler of a State. I will never take office. Thus I shall remain free to follow my own inclinations.”
― Chuang Tzu, The Book of Chuang Tzu

“How does the Sage seat himself by the sun and moon, and hold the universe in his grasp? He blends everything into one harmonious whole, rejecting the confusion of this and that. Rank and precedence, which the vulgar prize, the Sage stolidly ignores. The revolutions of ten thousand years leave his Unity unscathed. The universe itself may pass away, but he will flourish still.”
― Chuang Tzu, The Book of Chuang Tzu

“Once upon a time, I, Chuang Tzŭ, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of following my fancies as a butterfly, and was unconscious of my individuality as a man. Suddenly, I awaked, and there I lay, 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. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a barrier. The transition is called Metempsychosis.  Showing how one may appear to be either of two.”
― Chuang Tzu, The Book of Chuang Tzu

“Only the Perfect Man can wander in the world without taking sides, can follow along with men without losing himself”
― Chuang Tzu

“Birth is not a beginning; death is not an end.”
― Chuang Tzu

“Perfect wisdom is unplanned. Perfect love is without demonstrations. Perfect sincerity offers no guarantee.”
― Chuang Tzu

“That a bay horse and a dun cow are three.  Taken separately they are two. Taken together they are one. One and two make three.”
― Chuang Tzu, The Book of Chuang Tzu

“His mind is content with being in whatever situation it happens to be. His outward appearance is still and calm. His forehead is broad and looks carefree.
Sometimes he is coldly relentless like autumn; sometimes he is warm and amiable like spring. Joy and anger come and go as naturally as the four seasons do in Nature. Keeping perfect harmony with all things (which endlessly go on being 'transmuted' one into another) he does not know any limit.”
― Chuang Tzu, The Book of Chuang Tzu

“The torch of doubt and chaos, this is what the sage steers by.”
― Chuang Tzu

“But the perfect man,—he carries his mind back to the period before the beginning. Content to rest in the oblivion of nowhere, passing away like flowing water, he is merged in the clear depths of the infinite.”
― Chuang Tzu, The Book of Chuang Tzu

“The sage enjoys himself in that from which there is no possibility of separation, and by which all things are preserved. (p. 286)”
― Chuang Tzu, Chuang Tzu: Translated By: James Legge