Diogene il Cinico «…una volta, dopo avere notato un bambino che beveva con le mani, gettò via la ciotola dalla bisaccia, esclamando: “Un bambino mi ha vinto in fatto di semplicità”. Getto via anche il piatto cavo, per avere visto, parimenti, un bambino che, siccome aveva rotto il piatto, raccoglieva il suo passato di lenticchie con la parte concava di un pezzo di pane…»
da Diogene Laerzio “Vite e dottrine dei più celebri filosofi” VI. 37.
«It’s so sad that the hundred schools keep on expanding without taking a look back and won’t shut up! The scholars in future generations unfortunately won’t be able to see the pure simplicity of the heavens and earth, nor the great system followed by the ancient people. Instead those who become skillful expounding on Dao will shatter the world.» Zhuangzi chap.33
«My dear sir, if you could cause the whole world to retain its simplicity, then you also could move about as freely as the wind while experiencing your own virtue. Why must you set yourself up as some sort of hero by carrying around a big drum and beating on it as though you were searching for a lost child? A swan doesn’t bathe itself all day, and yet it’s white. A crow doesn’t smear itself with soot all day, and yet it’s black. The naturalness of black and white isn’t something that needs to be argued about. The observations of simple names and notable titles isn’t something that needs to be shouted about far and wide.» Zhuangzi chap.14
«I’ve heard from my master that those who possess machines must end up becoming mechanical in their affairs. Those who are mechanical in their affairs must end up becoming mechanical in their hearts and minds. If a mechanical heart is situated in one’s chest, then one can’t prepare oneself to receive pure simplicity. If one can’t be prepared to receive pure simplicity then the spirit becomes unsettled, and Dao has no place to enter. It’s not that I wasn’t aware of such machines, but that it would be disgraceful to end up that way.» Zhuangzi chap.12
«Trying to hold the outer edges of the sun and moon to restrain the whole universe; trying to become intimate with everything; trying to make sense out of what’s evasive and chaotic; trying to be subserviently respectful to others – everybody labors at those things. A wise person is foolishly childlike, participating in a long life because they’ve succeeded at connecting with simplicity. If all living things availed themselves of what they are, in that way they’d be beneficial to each other…» Zhuagzi chap.2