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Play for clay and you're sharp. Play for gold and you choke.

Zhuangzi, Zhuangzi 19 (The Full Understanding of Life)

The source

"Play for clay and you're sharp. Play for gold and you choke." Zhuangzi said it in Zhuangzi 19 (The Full Understanding of Life). Translated from the original Chinese by Spartan Surfers.

"以瓦注者巧,以鉤注者憚,以黃金注者㱪,其巧一也,而有所矜,則重外也。"

Original Chinese, Zhuangzi 19 (The Full Understanding of Life). Chinese: Zhuangzi text via zh.wikisource; chapter title after Legge 1891.

Who said it

Zhuangzi (c. 369–286 BC). Taoist storyteller of the butterfly dream, the useless tree and the cook who never dulled his knife.

Questions

Who said "Play for clay and you're sharp. Play for gold and you choke."?
Zhuangzi (c. 369–286 BC). Source: Zhuangzi 19 (The Full Understanding of Life).
What is the original Chinese?
以瓦注者巧,以鉤注者憚,以黃金注者㱪,其巧一也,而有所矜,則重外也。. Translated from the original Chinese by Spartan Surfers.

Filed under Grit.

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