Quotes by Chuang Tzu
Chuang Tzu was a Chinese philosopher and thinker that lived sometime during the 4th century BCE. Chuang Tzu is considered as one of the most influential Eastern philosophers of all-time. However, there is a controversy about whether or not he ever existed. Many early philosophers were simply stories told by others to inspire and let others tell their own philosophies. Nonetheless, there is some evidence that he actually did exist, including an early biography about his life. Continue reading for some great Chuang Tzu philosophical quotes.
Flow with whatever is happening and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.
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.
Cherish that which is within you, and shut off that which is without; for much knowledge is a curse.
Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious.
I dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke. Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?
Men honor what lies within the sphere of their knowledge, but do not realize how dependent they are on what lies beyond it. Those who realize their folly are not true fools.
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.
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.
All existing things are really one. We regard those that are beautiful and rare as valuable, and those that are ugly as foul and rotten The foul and rotten may come to be transformed into what is rare and valuable, and the rare and valuable into what is foul and rotten.
Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.
Back to Chuang Tzu Biography