Lao Tzu Quotes
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To retreat after a work well done is Heaven's Way.
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The greatest virtue is to follow the Way utterly.
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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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Be truly whole, and all things will return to you.
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If you close your mind in judgements and traffic with desires, your heart will be troubled. If you keep your mind from judging and aren't led by the senses, your heart will find peace.
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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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Rushing into action, you fail. Trying to grasp things, you lose them. Forcing a project to completion, you ruin what was almost ripe.
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We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it liveable.
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A good calculator does not need artificial aids.
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There is no calamity greater than lightly engaging in war.
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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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Whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. What is soft is strong.
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Fail to honor people, they fail to honor you.
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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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Weapons are instruments of fear; they are not a wise man's tools. He uses them only when he has no choice.
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To know others is to have knowledge. To know yourself is to be enlightened.
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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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Does one scent appeal more than another? Do you prefer this flavor, or that feeling? Is your practice sacred and your work profane? Then your mind is separated: from itself, from oneness, from the Tao.
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Filling life exceedingly is called ominous.
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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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The truly great man dwells on what is real and not what is on the surface.
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When the great Tao is forgotten, goodness and piety appear. When the body's intelligence declines, cleverness and knowledge step forth. When there is no peace in the family, filial piety begins. When the country falls into chaos, patriotism is born.
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He who possess virtue in abundance may be compared to an infant.
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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.