“Though the whole world praised him, he would not be further encouraged; though the whole world condemned him, he would not be cast down” appears in the “Free and Easy Wandering” chapter of the Zhuangzi. It describes Song Rongzi as able to distinguish what belonged to himself from what came from outside, and to understand the boundary between honour and disgrace.
The next line, however, says that he still had something “not yet established”. Zhuangzi acknowledges the steadiness of being undirected by praise or blame, while placing it below the more radical ideal of depending on nothing. Read now, the sentence need not mean refusing feedback. Opinions may count as evidence, but they should not operate as a direct switch for one’s sense of worth.
https://ctext.org/zhuangzi/enjoyment-in-untroubled-ease
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