Lao Tzu Quotes
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We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move.
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Conduct your triumph as a funeral.
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To know you have enough is to be rich.
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To rejoice in conquest is to rejoice in murder.
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Use the light that is in you to recover your natural clearness of sight.
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That which shrinks must first expand.
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Those who die without being forgotten get longevity.
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To consider this desirable would be to delight in the slaughter of men; and he who delights in the slaughter of men cannot get his will in the kingdom.
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The wise man is one who knows what he does not know.
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Therefore, if a great kingdom humbles itself before a small kingdom, it shall make that small kingdom its prize. And if a small kingdom humbles itself before a great kingdom, it shall win over that great kingdom. Thus the one humbles itself in order to attain, the other attains because it is humble. If the great kingdom has no further desire than to bring men together and to nourish them, the small kingdom will have no further desire than to enter the service of the other. But in order that both may have their desire, the great one must learn humility.
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Displaying riches and titles with pride brings about one's downfall.
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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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Holding on to the weak is called strength.
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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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Heavy is the root of light.
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Build up virtue, and you master all.
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Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things?
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The value of teaching without words and accomplishing without action is understood by few in the world.
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The high must make the low its base.
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Those who praise themselves do not prevail.
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The Master keeps her mind always at one with the Tao; that is what gives her her radiance. The Tao is ungraspable. How can her mind be at one with it? Because she doesn't cling to ideas. The Tao is dark and unfathomable. How can it make her radiant? Because she lets it. Since before time and space were, the Tao is. It is beyond is and is not. How do I know this is true? I look inside myself and see.
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A skillful commander is not overbearing. A skillful fighter does not become angry. A skillful conqueror does not compete with people. One who is skillful in using men puts himself below them. This is called the strength to use men. This is called matching Heaven, The highest principle of old.
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Stillness is the ruler of haste.
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Misery is what happiness rests upon. Happiness is what misery lurks beneath.