I am not a fish, I know the joy of fish. ?This is a sentence from Huizi, a person from the Song Dynasty during the Warring States Period. It was later recorded in "Zhuangzi, Autumn Waters". Many people mistakenly think it is a famous quote by Zhuangzi.

Hui Huizi was a famous politician and philosopher during the Warring States Period. He is also the founder of the famous school. He is a good friend of Zhuangzi, but this sentence does not come from Zhuangzi.

How did this sentence come about? One day Zhuangzi and Huizi were out playing. They meditated and discussed together. Zhuangzi saw the fish swimming around in the lake and said that the fish was very happy swimming around. This is the greatest joy of fish.

Huizi just asked Zhuangzi, "You are not a fish." How do you know this is fish happiness?

Then Zhuangzi said, "You are not me yet, so how do you know that I cannot know that fish are happy?"

Huizi replied to him and said, I am indeed not you, so I don’t know your thoughts. Then you are indeed not a fish, so naturally you cannot know how happy a fish is.

It looks like two old kids bickering, but in fact every word they say contains great philosophy.

One of them asked and the other answered, including their attitude towards life.

Hui Huizi means that you are not another person, and you cannot speak, feel, or express anything on behalf of another person, because there is no way to know the true situation and thoughts of another person.

But Zhuangzi just argued with Huizi and had no serious intention. He simply wanted to know how Huizi would answer next.

He asked Huizi rhetorically, and finally Huizi answered his question with a rhetorical question, wanting to see how Zhuangzi solved it. Finally, Zhuangzi said that I know the happiness of fish, because I am on top of the fish, so I know it.

Because Zhuangzi looks at the problem from the perspective of the fish, that is, Zhuangzi is replying to Huizi's question. When looking at the problem, you have to jump out of the fixed perspective to understand it.

And Huizi? The child is not a fish, how can one know the joy of fish? This sentence became a famous saying at the time, warning the world not to look at other people's problems from their own perspective. You are not that person, and you can never know whether that person is right or wrong, so you cannot know whether he is happy or miserable.