Tao Te Ching

“If you go forward, you fall into the hands of the celestial demons. If you retreat, you slip into the realm of hungry ghosts. If you go neither forward nor backward, you will drown in the dead water.”

— Touzi Yiqing 投子義青 1032 – 1083 CE
(Tōsu Gisei, “Zen Master of Complete Compassion”)