Lao Tzu Quotes
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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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Those who are content suffer no disgrace.
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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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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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Holding on to the weak is called strength.
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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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To know you have enough is to be rich.
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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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A multitude of words is tiresome, unlike remaining centered.
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When the hares have all been caught, the hunting dogs are cooked.
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Heaven's Way is like stretching a bow. The high is lowered and the low is raised. Excess is reduced and deficiency is replenished. Heaven's Way reduces excess and replenishes deficiency. People's Way is not so. They reduce the deficient and supply the excessive.
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Surrender your self-interest. Love others as much as you love yourself. Then you can be entrusted with all things under heaven.
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There is no calamity greater than lightly engaging in war.
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Without opening your door, you can open your heart to the world. Without looking out your window, you can see the essence of the Tao. The more you know, the less you understand. The Master arrives without leaving, sees the light without looking, achieves without doing a thing.
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The mature person perceives the fruitlessness of rigid, external methodologies.
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The supreme good is like water, which nourishes all things without trying to. It is content with the low places that people disdain. Thus it is like the Tao. In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present. When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.
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If you never assume importance, you never lose it.
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When Simplicity is broken up, it is made into instruments. Evolved individuals who employ them, are made into leaders. In this way, the Great System is United.
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But in the present day men cast off gentleness, and are all for being bold; they spurn frugality, and retain only extravagance; they discard humility, and aim only at being first. Therefore they shall surely perish.
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Muddy water, let stand, becomes clear.
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The wise man does not lay up treasure. The more he expends on others, the more he gains for himself. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own.
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Do not make them (people) weary at their work. If you do not make them weary, they will not be weary of you.
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We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it liveable.
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The sage avoids extremity, excess, and extravagance.