Zhuangzi

If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind.

Thus, those who say they would have right without its correlate, wrong; or good government without its correlate, misrule, do not apprehend the great principles of the universe, nor the nature of all creation.

Heaven cannot but be high. Earth cannot but be broad. The sun and moon cannot but revolve. All creation cannot but flourish. To do so is their TAO. But it is not from extensive study that this may be known, nor by dialectical skill that his may be made clear. The true sage will have none of these.

Those that think that wealth is the proper thing for them cannot give up their revenues; those that seek distinction cannot give up the thought of fame; those that cleave to power cannot give the handle of it to others. While they hold their grasp of those things, they are afraid of losing them. When they let them go, they are grieved and they will not look at a single example, from which they might perceive the folly of their restless pursuits - such men are under the doom of heaven.

We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.

Heaven does without doing through its purity, Earth does without doing through its calmness.

Good order results spontaneously when things are let alone

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.

Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.

He who pursues fame at the risk of losing his self is not a scholar.

Do not struggle. Go with the flow of things, and you will find yourself at one with the mysterious unity of the Universe.

The ultimate happiness is doing nothing.

There is no bandit so powerful as Nature._x000D_ _x000D_ The interaction of the positive and the negative principles, which produces the visible universe._x000D_ _x000D_ In the whole universe there is no escape from it.

If there is existence, there must be non-existence. And if there was a time when nothing existed, there must have been a time before that - when even nothing did not exist. Suddenly, when nothing came into existence, could one really say whether it belonged to the category of existence or non-existence?

The perfect man uses his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing. It regrets nothing. It receives but does not keep.

Your mind must become one, do not try to understand with your ears but with your heart. Indeed, not with your heart but with your soul.

To use what has a boundary to pursue what is limitless is dangerous; with this knowledge, if we still go after knowledge, we will run into trouble. Do not do what is good in order to gain praise. If you do what is bad be sure to avoid the punishment. Follow the Middle Course, for this is the way to keep yourself together, to sustain your life, to care for your parents and to live for many years.

Who knows when the end is reached? Death may be the beginning of life. How do I know that love of life is not a delusion after all? How do I know that he who dreads to die is as a child who has lost the way and cannot find his way home? How do I know that the dead repent of having previously clung to life?

He who knows he is a fool is not the biggest fool; He who knows he is confused is not in the worst confusion.

The true man breathes with his heels.

A battering ram can knock down a city wall, but it cannot stop a hole. Different things have different uses.