Lao Tzu Quotes
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Displaying riches and titles with pride brings about one's downfall.
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To retreat after a work well done is Heaven's Way.
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Abandon benevolence, discard duty, and people will return to the family ties.
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To rejoice in conquest is to rejoice in murder.
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That which shrinks must first expand.
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The heavy is the root of the light. The unmoved is the source of all movement. Thus the Master travels all day without leaving home. However splendid the views, she stays serenely in herself. Why should the lord of the country flit about like a fool? If you let yourself be blown to and fro, you lose touch with your root. If you let restlessness move you, you lose touch with who you are.
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When the emperor is crowned or the three dukes are appointed, rather than sending a gift of jade carried by four horses, remain still and offer the Way.
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From now back to antiquity, its (Tao's) name has not been lost. Thereby, see the origin of all.
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Fail to honor people, they fail to honor you.
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The wise man puts himself last and finds himself first.
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The Tao is unpredictable to those that live according to plans. Only those who have no agenda are in harmony with the Tao.
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ALL things in Nature work silently. They come into being and possess nothing. They fulfil their functions and make no claim.
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The softest of stuff in the world, penetrates quickly the hardest, insubstantial, it enters where there is no room.
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The inner is the foundation of the outer. The still is master of the restless. The Sage travels all day yet never leaves his inner treasure.
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Use the light that is in you to recover your natural clearness of sight.
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Superior leaders get things done with very little motion. They impart instruction not through many words, but through a few deeds. They keep informed about everything but interfere hardly at all. They are catalysts, and though things would not get done as well if they were not there, when they succeed they take no credit. And, because they take no credit, credit never leaves them.
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The more clever and cunning people are, the stranger the events will be.
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Those who die without being forgotten get longevity.
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Mold clay into a bowl. The empty space makes it useful.
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There is no calamity greater than lavish desires. There is no greater guilt than discontent. And there is no greater disaster than greed.
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Conduct your triumph as a funeral.
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When the ancient Masters said, "If you want to be given everything, give everything up," they weren't using empty phrases. Only in being lived by the Tao can you be truly yourself.
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The high must make the low its base.
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We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move.