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

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 hundred parts of the body are all complete in their places. Which should one prefer? Do you like them all equally? Are they all servants? Are they unable to control one another and need a ruler? Or do they become rulers and servants in turn? Is there any true ruler other than themselves?

Birth is not a beginning; death is not an end. There is existence without limitation; there is continuity without a starting point.

Big? Sure. But, he can't catch mice! So for your big tree. No use? Then plant it in the wasteland - in emptiness. Walk idly around it and rest under it's shadow. No axe or saw prepares its end. No one will ever cut it down. Useless? You should worry!.

The true man of the past waited upon Heaven when dealing with people and did not wait upon people when dealing with Heaven.

Rewards and punishments are the lowest form of education.