Zhuangzi’s famous sayings in the world are as follows:
1. Great knowledge is leisurely, small knowledge is momentary; big words are passionate, but small words are Zhanzhan.
Translation: The wisest people will always show an open-minded and generous attitude; people with little talent will always care about trivial rights and wrongs. Speeches that are in line with the Dao are as powerful as a prairie fire, both beautiful and grand, making people feel convinced after hearing them. Those clever remarks are trivial and full of nonsense.
2. Although the cooks do not manage the cooks, the corpses will not pass over the jars but will be replaced.
Translation: Although the chef does not make the sacrifices, the master of ceremonies who presides over the sacrifices will not go beyond the table of arranging the sacrifices and do it on the chef's behalf. This means that even if the chef fails to perform his duties, the corpse does not have to go beyond the scope of his authority to worship the gods and act on his behalf. It expresses Zhuangzi's thought of governing by doing nothing, and the idiom "Yue Zu Dai Pao" comes from this.
3. My life has a limit, but my knowledge has no limit.
Translation: Human life is limited, but knowledge is infinite. Use your limited life to devote your limited life to unlimited learning.
4. Use fire to fight fire and water to fight water. This is called more benefit.
Translation: Use fire to put out fire and water to put out water. Not only will this not correct things, but it will increase (Wei Jun's) faults. Let’s use the words Confucius taught Yan Hui to illustrate a way of life. This is where the idioms "fighting fire with fire" and "fighting water with water" come from.
5. Mountain trees are invaded by enemies, and burned by fire. Gui is edible, so cut it down; lacquer can be used, so cut it. Everyone knows the uses of useful things, but no one knows the uses of useless things.
Translation: The trees growing on the mountains were cut down because of the needs of nature. The ointment was burned because it could provide lighting. The osmanthus tree was cut down because it was edible. The bark was cut off because it could be used as lacquer.
Everyone knows the useful uses, but not the useless ones. Being useful and doing something will be harmful, but being useless and doing nothing is a blessing. It illustrates the uselessness that is often overlooked and contains simple dialectics.
Main works
Zhuangzi's works are compiled into the book "Zhuangzi". "Zhuangzi" was written approximately in the pre-Qin period. Sima Qian said that Zhuangzi wrote more than 100,000 words. "Han Shu Yi Li Zhi" contains fifty-two chapters of "Zhuangzi". However, the current version of "Zhuangzi" has only thirty-three chapters with more than 65,000 words, divided into internal chapters, external chapters, and miscellaneous chapters. Three parts.
These thirty-three chapters have been compiled by Guo Xiang of the Jin Dynasty when he annotated "Zhuangzi". The chapters and chapters are also different from those of the Han Dynasty. The remaining chapters may have been deleted by Guo Xiang.