You're not a fish. How do you know fish are happy?
Zhuangzi, Zhuangzi 17 (The Floods of Autumn)
You're not a fish. How do you know fish are happy?
Zhuangzi, Zhuangzi 17 (The Floods of Autumn)
The source
"You're not a fish. How do you know fish are happy?" Zhuangzi said it in Zhuangzi 17 (The Floods of Autumn). Translated from the original Chinese by Spartan Surfers.
"子非魚，安知魚之樂？"Original Chinese, Zhuangzi 17 (The Floods of Autumn). 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 "You're not a fish. How do you know fish are happy?"?
- Zhuangzi (c. 369–286 BC). Source: Zhuangzi 17 (The Floods of Autumn).
- What is the original Chinese?
- 子非魚，安知魚之樂？. Translated from the original Chinese by Spartan Surfers.
Filed under Water.
Wear Zhuangzi
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Don't talk ocean with a frog in a well.
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Be the headland. Let the waves break.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.49
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More from Zhuangzi
- If the water isn't deep, it can't carry a big boat.Zhuangzi 1 (Enjoyment in Untroubled Ease)
- A whole forest to nest in. The wren needs one branch.Zhuangzi 1 (Enjoyment in Untroubled Ease)
- No axe comes for what has no use. What could trouble it?Zhuangzi 1 (Enjoyment in Untroubled Ease)
- Am I Zhuang dreaming a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming Zhuang?Zhuangzi 2 (The Adjustment of Controversies)
- Life has a limit. Knowledge has none.Zhuangzi 3 (Nourishing the Lord of Life)
- Nineteen years, thousands of oxen, and the blade still looks new.Zhuangzi 3 (Nourishing the Lord of Life)