"If you try to make it the same, you will only confuse it more."

"Let's go back to the beginning. When you asked 'How do you know the happiness of fish?' you already knew that I knew it when you asked the question. I knew it by standing here on the Hao River."

"The sage is like a mirror. He does not welcome things, nor does he usher them away. He responds to them but does not store them. Therefore, he can triumph over things and not be injured."

"If a man is crossing a river and an empty boat collides with his own skiff, even though he be a bad-tempered man he will not get angry. But if he sees a man in the boat, he will shout at him to steer …"

"A man is not a horse, and a horse is not a man. Why bother to distinguish?"