If a man, having lashed two hulls together, is crossing a river, and an empty boat happens along and bumps into him, no matter how hot-tempered the man may be, he will not get angry. But if there should be someone in the other boat, then he will shout out to haul this way or veer that. If his first shout is unheeded, he will shout again, and if that is not heard, he will shout a third time, this time with a torrent of curses following. In the first instance, he wasn't angry; now in the second he is. Earlier he faced emptiness, now he faces occupancy. If a man could succeed in making himself empty, and in that way wander through the world, then who could do him harm?
ZH
Author
Zhuangzi
/zhuangzi-quotes-and-sayings
75
Quotes
6
Works
Author Summary
About Zhuangzi on QuoteMust
Zhuangzi currently has 75 indexed quotes and 6 linked works on QuoteMust. This page is the canonical destination for that author archive.
Works
Books and titles linked to this author
Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings
Nan-Hua-Ch'en-Ching, or, the Treatise of the transcendent master from Nan-Hua
The Book of Chuang Tzu
The Butterfly as Companion: Meditations on the First Three Chapters of the Chuang-Tzu
The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu
The Inner Chapters: The Classic Taoist Text
Quotes