I do not know whether I was then
by Zhuangzi

I do not know whether I was then
a man dreaming I was a butterfly,
or whether I am now
a butterfly dreaming I am a man.
- Zhuangzi

Related topics: Zen Wisdom

We cling to our own point of view,
as though everything depended on it.
Yet our opinions have no permanence;
like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.
- Zhuangzi

Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.
- Zhuangzi

Life comes from the earth and life returns to the earth.
- Zhuangzi

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Thank you for joining me on this journey we call life,
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Those who realize their folly are not true fools.
- Zhuangzi

Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing,
of just going along,
listening to all the things you can't hear,
and not bothering.
- A. A. Milne (Winnie-The-Pooh)

We are not held back by the love we didn't receive in the past,
but by the love we're not extending in the present.
- Marianne Williamson

Do not blame the thistle that you see no beauty.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Stand Tall, Stand Proud.
Know that you are unique and magnificent.
You do not need the approval of others.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

To know yet to think that one does not know is best;
Not to know yet to think that one knows
will lead to difficulty.
- Lao Tzu

Everything has beauty,
but not everyone sees it.
- Confucius

One does not discover new lands without consenting
to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
- Andre Gide

You do not need anyone's permission to be your true self.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The question is not what you look at, but what you see.
- Henry David Thoreau

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.
- Marianne Williamson

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
- Lao Tzu

Life is not supposed to be fair.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Love one another but make not a bond of love.
Let it rather be a moving sea
between the shores of your souls.
- Khalil Gibran

Love means not ever having to say you're sorry.
- Erich Segal

I am not afraid of storms
for I am learning how to sail my ship.
- Louisa May Alcott

The true meaning of life is to plant trees,
under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
- Nelson Henderson

A good traveler has no fixed plans,
and is not intent on arriving.
- Lao Tzu

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.
- Edmund Hillary

A bird does not sing because it has an answer.
It sings because it has a song.
- Chinese Proverb

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.
- Rabindranath Tagore

A ship in harbor is safe -
but that is not what ships are for.
- John A. Shedd

The mind is not a vessel to be filled
but a fire to be kindled.
- Plutarch

Lord, grant that I might not so much
seek to be loved as to love.
- St. Francis of Assisi

The world is perfect. It's a mess.
It has always been a mess.
We are not going to change it.
Our job is to straighten out our own lives.
- Joseph Campbell

To the people who love you,
you are beautiful already.
This is not because they're
blind to your shortcomings
but because they so clearly see your soul.
- Victoria Moran

Adventure is not outside man; it is within.
- George Eliot

Riches do not exhilarate us so much with their possession
as they torment us with their loss.
- Epicurus

When dealing with people, remember you are
not dealing with creatures of logic,
but creatures of emotion.
- Dale Carnegie

The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
- Oscar Wilde

Let parents bequeath to their children
not riches, but the spirit of reverence.
- Plato

Do not let Sunday be taken from you.
If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan.
- Albert Schweitzer

One can not reflect in streaming water.
Only those who know internal peace can give it to others.
- Lao Tzu

Am I not destroying my enemies
when I make friends of them?
- Abraham Lincoln

Sometimes we need the fog to remind ourselves
that all of life is not black and white.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The ache for home lives in all of us,
the safe place where we can
go as we are and not be questioned.
- Maya Angelou

I do not need anyone's permission to be my true self.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Every child comes with the message
that God is not yet discouraged of man.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle,
and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared.
- The Buddha

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly,
"one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."
- Hans Christian Andersen

The possession of knowledge does not
kill the sense of wonder and mystery.
There is always more mystery.
- Anais Nin

You will not be punished for your anger,
you will be punished by your anger.
- The Buddha

Treat those who are good with goodness,
and also treat those who are not good with goodness.
Thus goodness is attained.
Be honest to those who are honest,
and be also honest to those who are not honest.
Thus honesty is attained.
- Lao Tzu

Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition,
is not only a waste of energy
but the worst habit you could possibly have.
- Dale Carnegie

The beauty does not live out there;
the beauty's in my eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I am not a slave to my thoughts or emotions.
- Richard Carlson

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.
If we did not sometimes taste of adversity,
prosperity would not be so welcome.
- Anne Bradstreet

The essence of life is not in
the great victories and grand failures,
but in the simple joys.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.
I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty,
believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.
- Louisa May Alcott

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek,
but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Self-respect is not a function of size, age, or wealth.
Breathe deep, sing loud and sweet,
"I am me, I am unique, I am magnificent."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

That which is hateful to you,
do not do to your fellow.
That is the whole Torah;
the rest is the explanation.
- Talmud (Jewish Wisdom)

Humility is not thinking less of yourself,
it's thinking of yourself less.
- Rick Warren (author of The Purpose Driven(R) Life)

Love that does not renew itself every day
becomes a habit and in turn a slavery.
- Khalil Gibran

Talk not of wasted affection;
affection never was wasted.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Men and women are not prisoners of fate,
but only prisoners of their own minds.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Practice does not make perfect,
perfect practice makes perfect.
- Vince Lombardi

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
- Mark Twain

Be careful not to do your good deeds
when there's no one watching you.
- Tom Lehrer

Inaction breeds doubt and fear.
Action breeds confidence and courage.
If you want to conquer fear,
do not sit home and think about it.
Go out and get busy.
- Dale Carnegie

If you do not change direction,
you may end up where you are heading.
- Lao Tzu

Non-violence means avoiding not only external physical violence
but also internal violence of spirit.
You not only refuse to shoot a man,
but you refuse to hate him.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Commitment cannot be taught;
it can only be caught.
I refer to the crusading spirit.
Without the crusading spirit,
you may have the starting power
but not the staying power.
- Jimmy Yen

We are not what we know
but what we are willing to learn.
- Mary Catherine Bateson

The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.
- The Buddha

We come to love not by finding the perfect person,
but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.
- Angelina Jolie

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May the world be kind to you, and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie