Lao Tzu Quotes
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To practice virtue is to selflessly offer assistance to others, giving without limitation one's time, abilities, and possessions in service, whenever and wherever needed, without prejudice concerning the identity of those in need.
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The well-run group is not a battlefield of egos.
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When the highest type of people hear Tao (Truth), they diligently practice it. When the average type of people hear Tao, they half believe in it. When the lowest type of people hear Tao, they laugh at it. If they did not laugh, it would not be Tao.
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When everyone sees good, then bad exists.
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Weapons are ominous tools. They are abhorred by all creatures. Anyone who follows the Way shuns them.
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The more clever and cunning people are, the stranger the events will be.
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Do nondoing, strive for nonstriving, savor the flavorless, regard the small as important, make much of little, repay enmity with virtue; plan for difficulty when it is still easy, do the great while it is still small. The most difficult things in the world must be done while they are easy; the greatest things in the world must be done while they are small.
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The sage acts without taking credit. He accomplishes without dwelling on it. He does not want to display his worth.
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Misery is what happiness rests upon. Happiness is what misery lurks beneath.
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The rigid tree will be felled.
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Treat the large as the small and the few as the many.
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Every being in the universe is an expression of the Tao. It springs into existence, unconscious, perfect, free, takes on a physical body, lets circumstances complete it. That is why every being spontaneously honors the Tao. The Tao gives birth to all beings, nourishes them, maintains them, cares for them, comforts them, protects them, takes them back to itself, creating without possessing, acting without expecting, guiding without interfering. That is why love of the Tao is in the very nature of things.
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My words have an origin. My deeds have a sovereign. Truly, because people do not understand this, they do not understand me.
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The sage attends to the belly, and not to what he sees.
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Nature doesn't make long speeches.
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If you search everywhere, yet cannot find what you are seeking, it is because what you seek is already in your possession.
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Be humble and you will remain entire. The sages do not display themselves, therefore they shine. They do not approve themselves, therefore they are noted. They do not praise themselves, therefore they have merit. They do not glory in themselves, therefore they excel.
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Mask your brightness. Be at one with the dust of the earth. This is primal union.
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Build up virtue, and you master all.
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Displaying riches and titles with pride brings about one's downfall.
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The man of knowledge acquires something new everyday, and the man of Tao lets go of something new every day.
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Force is followed by loss of strength. This is not the way of the Tao. That which goes against the Tao comes to an early end.
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A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind. Thus by nature's own decree, the soft and gentle are triumphant.
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Perfection is the willingness to be imperfect.