Your life has a limit, but knowledge has none. To use that which is limited, in order to pursue tat which has no limit, is dangerous. If you understand this, and yet still strive for knowledge, you will certainly run into trouble. If you sincerely wish to do good, then avoid rewards. If you wish to do evil, then avoid punishments. Follow the middle course, because by this means you will stay in one piece. Keep yourself alive, and look after your parents, and enjoy the years left to you.
Chuang Tzu, The Book of Chuang Tzu