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
I cannot tell if what the world considers ‘happiness’ is happiness or not. All I know is that when I consider the way they go about attaining it, I see them carried away headlong, grim and obsessed, in the general onrush of the human herd, unable to stop themselves or to change their direction. All the while they claim to be just on the point of attaining happiness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote questions conventional perceptions of happiness and critiques the relentless pursuit of it by society.
Zhuangzi reflects on the nature of happiness as defined by societal norms. He observes that people often blindly follow the crowd in their quest for happiness, leading to a state of obsession and stress, rather than genuine joy. This critique invites a deeper examination of what true happiness is, separate from societal expectations and pressures.
Themes
HappinessSocietyPursuitWisdomSelf-Reflection
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be shared during a seminar about mental health and self-awareness.
More from Zhuangzi
All quotes →Either 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
There's something special for everyone to do. Remember, no experience is a bad experience unless you gain nothing from it.
Lyndon B. JohnsonRead
Sometimes God lets you hit rock bottom so that you will discover He is the Rock at the bottom.
Tony EvansRead
When we forgive evil we do not excuse it, we do not tolerate it, we do not smother it. We look the evil full in the face, call it what it is, let its horror shock and stun and enrage us, and only then do we forgive it.
Lewis B. SmedesRead
Much did I rage when young, Being by the world oppressed, But now with flattering tongue It speeds the parting guest.
William Butler YeatsRead
It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things.
Theodore RooseveltRead
How can you make sense of the future when you only have data about the past?
Clayton ChristensenRead