Commonplace: No Effort

Fishing-stakes are employed to catch fish; but when the fish are got, the men forget the stakes. Snares are employed to catch hares, but when the hares are got, men forget the snares. Words are employed to convey ideas; but when the ideas are apprehended, men forget the words. Fain would I talk with such a man who has forgot the words!

Zhuangzi, “Wai Wû, or What comes from Without” in The Texts of Taoism, in Sacred Books of the East, vol. XL, ed. James Legge (Oxford University Press, 1891), 141.