Chuang Tzu 1.2

And moreover, to speak of the accumulation of water; if it be not great, it will not have strength to support a large boat. Upset a cup of water in a cavity, and a straw will float on it as if it were a boat. Place a cup in it, and it will stick fast; the water is shallow and the boat is large. 

So it is with the accumulation of wind; if it be not great, it will not have strength to support great wings. Therefore the Phang ascended to the height of 90,000 lì, and there was such a mass of wind beneath it; thenceforth the accumulation of wind was sufficient. As it seemed to bear the blue sky on its back, and there was nothing to obstruct or arrest its course, it could pursue its way to the South.

A cicada and a little dove laughed at it, saying, "We make an effort and fly towards an elm or sapanwood tree; and sometimes before we reach it, we can do no more but drop to the ground. Of what use is it for this creature to rise 90,000 lì, and make for the South?" 

He who goes to the grassy suburbs, returning to the third meal of the day, will have his belly as full as when he set out; he who goes to a distance of 100 lì will have to pound his grain where he stops for the night; he who goes a thousand lì, will have to carry with him provisions for three months. 

What should these two small creatures know about the matter? The knowledge of that which is small does not reach to that which is great; the experience of a few years does not reach to that of many. 

How do we know that it is so? The mushroom of a morning does not know what takes place between the beginning and end of a month; the short-lived cicada does not know what takes place between the spring and autumn. These are instances of a short term of life. 

In the south of Khû there is the tree called Ming-ling, whose spring is 500 years, and its autumn the same; in high antiquity there was that called Tâ-khun, whose spring was 8000 years, and its autumn the same. 

And Phang Tsu is the one man renowned to the present day for his length of life—if all men were to wish to match him, would they not be miserable?