Chang Tzu Quotes

Chang Tzu tells us of a persevering man who after three laborious years mastered the art of dragon-slaying. For the rest of his days, he had not a single opportunity to test his skills. ~ Jorge Luis Borges

These forays into the real world sharpened his view that scientists needed the widest possible education. He used to say, "How can you design for people if you don't know history and psychology? You can't. Because your mathematical formulas may be perfect, but the people will screw it up. And if that happens, it means you screwed it up." He peppered his lectures with quotations from Plato, Chaka Zulu, Emerson, and Chang-tzu.

But as a professor who was popular with his students - and who advocated general education - Thorne found himself swimming against the tide. The academic world was marching toward ever more specialized knowledge, expressed in ever more dense jargon. In this climate, being liked by your students was a sign of shallowness; and interest in real-world problems was proof of intellectual poverty and a distressing indifference to theory. ~ Michael Crichton

He who asserts his own views is not distinguished; ~ Lao-Tzu

Do you want to improve the world?
I don't think it can be done.
The world is sacred.
It can't be improved.
If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it.
There is a time for being ahead,
a time for being behind;
a time for being in motion,
a time for being at rest;
a time for being vigorous,
a time for being exhausted;
a time for being safe,
a time for being in danger.
The Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle. ~ Lao-Tzu

In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them ~ Sun Tzu

This honouring of the Tao and exalting of its operation is not the result of any ordination, but always a spontaneous tribute. ~ Lao Tzu

Without stirring abroad, One can know the whole world; Without looking out of the window One can see the way of heaven. The further one goes The less one knows. ~ Lao-Tzu

In certain areas where the media are still controlled, the changes have come to a halt, which is a very frustrating situation. I would like the changes to take place throughout China. ~ Jung Chang

It was in the work that she came closest to finding herself, by which we don't mean gaining "self-knowledge" or understanding one's "true nature" but rather how at some point you can see most plainly that this is what you do, this is how you fit in the wider ecology. ~ Chang-rae Lee

He who is contented is rich. ~ Lao-Tzu

People are trying to figure out what American food is; it's certainly an amalgamation. ~ David Chang

One who is too insistent on his own views, finds few to agree with him. ~ Lao-Tzu

There is nothing in the world more soft and weak than water, and yet for attacking things that are firm and strong there is nothing that can take precedence of it; - for there is nothing (so effectual) for which it can be changed. ~ Lao-Tzu

The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name. ~ Lao-Tzu

Not the stout balding man. Not a Nikolai. A Vronsky. ~ Janie Chang

The enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution. ~ Sun Tzu

The ultimate skill in taking up a strategic position is to have no form. ~ Sun Tzu

Where there are more restrictions and prohibitions, there is also more poverty. Where there are many sharp weapons, there is also more chaos. Where the people are full of clever schemes, there are also strange outcomes. Where there are many laws and edicts, there is also an abundance of criminals. Therefore, the wise person: Practices non-action so that the people are naturally transformed. Welcomes quietude so that the people will naturally be civilized. Does not interfere so that the people will naturally be prosperous. ~ Lao-Tzu

If the enemy has occupied them before you, do not follow him, but retreat and try to entice him away. ~ Sun Tzu

It is one thing to tell the citizens of some faraway country to go to hell, but it is another to do the same to your own citizens, who are supposedly your ultimate sovereigns. ~ Ha-Joon Chang

Thirty spokes share one hub in non-being lies the use of the cart knead clay to make vessels in non-being lies the use of the vessel cut out doors and windows to make a house
therefore form being comes what is usable and from non-being comes what is essential. ~ Lao-Tzu

Seeing our own smallness is called insight, honoring our own tenderness is called strenght. ~ Lao-Tzu

What hasty preperations we make for our future. Think of it: it seems almost tragic, the things we're sure we ought to bring along. We pack too heavy with what we hope we'll use, and too light of what we must. We thus go forth misladen, ill equipped for the dawn. ~ Chang-rae Lee

We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbors. ~ Sun Tzu

Inside the house, where money could reliably fix most problems, things were nearly perfect, but outside, butch nature trampled all over wimpy nurture. ~ Jade Chang

She'll be an excellent novelist: a monster of self-absorption. ~ Lan Samantha Chang

When you shoot a bow and arrow, you aim at the clouds, not because you expect to hit them, but so that you may reach the distant target on the ground. ~ Sun Tzu

Who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits ~ Sun Tzu

The getting that (favour) leads to the apprehension (of losing it), and the losing it leads to the fear of (still greater calamity): - this is what is meant by saying that favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared. ~ Lao-Tzu

To lead people, walk beside them. ~ Lao-Tzu

Emptiness appears barren
yet is infinite fullness ~ Lao-Tzu

On the field of battle, the spoken word does not carry far enough; hence the institution of gongs and drums ... banners and flags. Gongs and drums, banners and flags, are means whereby the ears and eyes of the host may be focused on one particular point. ~ Sun Tzu

Startled, he tried to comfort him. But Father said slowly, "I ask myself whether I am afraid of death. I don't think I am. My life as it is now is worse. And it looks as if there is not going to be any ending. Sometimes I feel weak: I stand by Tranquillity River and think, Just one leap and I can get it over with. Then I tell myself I must not. If I die without being cleared, there will be no end of trouble for all of you… I have been thinking a lot lately. I had a hard childhood, and society was full of injustice. It was for a fair society that I joined the Communists. I've tried my best through the years. But what good has it done for the people? As for myself, why is it that in the end I have come to be the ruin of my family? People who believe in retribution say that to end badly you must have something on your conscience. I have been thinking hard about the things I've done in my life. I have given orders to execute some people…"

Father went on to tell Jin-ming about the death sentences he had signed, the names and stories of the e-ba ('ferocious despots') in the land reform in Chaoyang, and the bandit chiefs in Yibin.

"But these people had done so much evil that God himself would have had them killed.

What, then, have I done wrong to deserve all this?"

After a long pause, Father said, "If I die like this, don't believe in the Communist Party anymore. ~ Jung Chang

It's much more difficult to work on a broad subject than on a specific one, because even if it's hard to find the information, if you look hard enough for something specific you will find it, and you will discover things that you wouldn't have thought of before. ~ Iris Chang

To persuade your enemy to (retreat) before the fight is to defeat them even before the battle begins. An enemy made ally is no longer an enemy. ~ Sun Tzu

Contrary to what professional economists will typically tell you, economics is not a science. All economic theories have underlying political and ethical assumptions, which make it impossible to prove them right or wrong in the way we can with theories in physics or chemistry. ~ Ha-Joon Chang

The reason why the universe is eternal is that it does not live for itself; it gives life to others as it transforms. ~ Lao-Tzu

As a child, I didn't see my dad that much because he was always working at the restaurant. He became pretty jaded after working at the restaurant for so long. ~ David Chang

Now a soldier's spirit is keenest in the morning; by noonday it has begun to flag; and in the evening, his mind is only on returning to camp. ~ Sun Tzu

The enemy's spies who have come to spy on us must be sought out, tempted with bribes, led away and comfortably housed. Thus they will become double agents and available for our service. It is through the information brought by the double agent that we are able to acquire and employ local and inward spies. It is owing to his information, again, that we can cause the doomed spy to carry false tidings to the enemy. ~ Sun Tzu

The two women did more than resolve a major problem, they went on to form a political alliance and launch a coup. Cixi was twenty-five years old and Empress Zhen a year younger. Facing them were eight powerful men in control of the state machine. The women were well aware of the risk they were taking. A coup was treason, and if it failed the punishment would be the most painful ling-chi, death by a thousand cuts. But they were willing to take the risk. Not only were they determined to save their son and the dynasty, but they also rejected the prescribed life of imperial widows – essentially living out their future years as virtual prisoners in the harem. Choosing to change their own destiny as well as that of the empire, the two women plotted, often with their heads together leaning over a large glazed earthenware water tank, pretending to be appraising their reflections or just talking girls' talk. ~ Jung Chang

May not the space between heaven and earth be compared to a bellows? ~ Lao-Tzu