Lao Tzu Quotes
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Yet mystery and imagination arise from the same source. This source is called darkness ... Darkness within darkness, the gateway to all understanding.
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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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To retreat after a work well done is Heaven's Way.
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Perfection is the willingness to be imperfect.
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The mature person perceives the fruitlessness of rigid, external methodologies.
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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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Mold clay into a bowl. The empty space makes it useful.
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The superior leader keeps informed about everything but interferes hardly at all.
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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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Use the light that is in you to recover your natural clearness of sight.
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To rejoice in conquest is to rejoice in murder.
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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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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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The wise man puts himself last and finds himself first.
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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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Fail to honor people, they fail to honor you.
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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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The more clever and cunning people are, the stranger the events will be.
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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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Things exalted then decay. This is going against the Way. What goes against the Way meets an early end.
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Open yourself to the truth, then trust in your natural responses, and everything will fall into place.
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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.