The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing. The hearing of the understanding is another. But the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty to the ear, or to the mind.
ZhuangziRead
Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can have a word with him?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the importance of simplicity and the limitations of language in conveying true understanding.
In this quote, Zhuangzi suggests that the complexities of language can obscure deeper truths. He yearns for a person who has transcended the confines of words, implying that true communication and understanding may often lie beyond verbal expression. It reflects a philosophical contemplation on the relationship between language, thought, and perception in the quest for wisdom.
Themes
LanguageUnderstandingWisdomCommunicationPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
During a philosophy seminar discussing the nature of reality and perception.
More from Zhuangzi
All quotes βEither in conflict with others or in harmony with them, we go through life like a runaway horse, unable to stop.
ZhuangziRead
When people do not ignore what they should ignore, but ignore what they should not ignore, this is known as ignorance.
ZhuangziRead
The true man of the past waited upon Heaven when dealing with people and did not wait upon people when dealing with Heaven.
ZhuangziRead
The mind remains undetermined in the great Void. Here the highest knowledge is unbounded. That which gives things their thusness cannot be delimited by things. So when we speak of 'limits', we remain confined to limited things. The limit of the unlimited is called 'fullness.' The limitlessness of the limited is called 'emptiness.' Tao is the source of both. But it is itself neither fullness nor emptiness
ZhuangziRead
All the fish needs is to get lost in the water. All man needs is to get lost in Tao.
ZhuangziRead
Similar quotes
You never kill any one that you want to kill in a war, he said to himself.
Ernest HemingwayRead
Boxing is a celebration of the lost religion of masculinity all the more trenchant for its being lost.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
I wanted to swallow myself by opening my mouth very wide and turning it over my head so that it would take in my whole body, and then the Universe, until all that would remain of me would be a ball of eaten thing which little by little would be annihilated: that is how I see the end of the world.
Jean GenetRead
The problem is we need much more moral content.
Cornel WestRead
I like the truth sometimes, but I don't care enough for it to hanker after it.
Mark TwainRead
The gaze that the colonized subject casts at the colonist's sector is a look of lust, a look of envy. Dreams of possession. Every type of possession; of sitting at the colonist's table and sleeping in his bed, preferably with his wife. The colonized man is an envious man.
Frantz FanonRead