Chuang Tzu Quotes

“The baby looks at things all day without winking; that is because his eyes are not focused on any particular object. He goes without knowing where he is going, and stops without knowing what he is doing. He merges himself within the surroundings and moves along with it. These are the principles of mental hygiene.”
― Chuang-Tzu

“Once upon a time, I, Chuang Tzu, dreamt that i was a butterfly. flitting around and enjoying myself. I had no idea I was Chuang Tzu. Then suddenly I woke up and was Chuang Tzu again. But I could not tell, had I been Chuang Tzu dreaming I was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming I was now Chuang Tzu? However, there must be some sort of difference between Chuang Tzu and a butterfly! We call this the transformation of things.”
― Zhuangzi, Chuang Tsu: Inner Chapters

“Among Chuang-tzu's many skills, he was an expert draftsman. The king asked him to draw a crab. Chuang-tzu replied that he needed five years, a country house, and twelve servants. Five years later the drawing was still not begun. "I need another five years," said Chuang-tzu. The king granted them. At the end of these ten years, Chuang-tzu took up his brush and, in an instant, with a single stroke, he drew a crab, the most perfect crab ever seen. [Calvino retells this Chinese story]”
― Italo Calvino, Six Memos for the Next Millennium

“Those who count things are not worthy of assisting the people.”
― Zhuangzi, The Book of Chuang Tzu

“When there is both name and reality,
We dwell in the realm of things;
When there is neither name nor reality,
We exist in a vacuity of things.
We can speak and can think,
But the more we speak, the further off we are.
What is not yet born cannot be forbidden,
What is already dead cannot be prevented.
Death and birth are not distant,
It's their principle that cannot be seen.”
― Zhuangzi, The Book of Chuang Tzu

“A fish-trap is for catching fish; once you've caught the fish, you can forget about the trap. A rabbit-snare is for catching rabbits; once you've caught the rabbit, you can forget about the snare. Words are for catching ideas; once you've caught the idea, you can forget about the words. Where can I find a person who knows how to forget about words so that I can have a few words with them?”
― Zhuangzi, Zhuangzi: The Essential Writings: With Selections from Traditional Commentaries

“In the end, the best way to approach Chuang Tzu, I believe, is not to attempt to subject this thought to rational and systematic analysis, but to read and reread his words until one has ceased to think of what he is saying and instead has developed an intuitive sense of the mind moving behind the words, and of the world in which it moves.”
― Burton Watson (translator)