Lao Tzu Quotes
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Those who praise themselves do not prevail.
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To retreat after a work well done is Heaven's Way.
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Those who take long steps cannot keep the pace.
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Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things?
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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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Profound virtue is indeed deep and wide. It leads all things back to the great order.
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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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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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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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Because every portion of the body, mind, and spirit yearns for the integration of yin and yang, angelic intercourse is led by the spirit rather than the sexual organs. . . . Where ordinary intercourse unites sex organs with sex organs, angelic cultivation unites spirit with spirit, mind with mind, and every cell of one body with every cell of the other body.
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The feminine values are the fountain of bliss. Know the masculine, Keep to the feminine.
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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 sage avoids extremity, excess, and extravagance.
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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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Build up virtue, and you master all.
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There is no calamity greater than lightly engaging in war.
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There was something that finished chaos, born before Heaven and Earth.
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The True Person governs by emptying the heart of desire and filling the belly with food, weakening ambitions and strengthening bones.
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Wise men hear and see as little children do.
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The hard and stiff are death's companions. The soft and weak are life's companions.
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Rule a kingdom as though you were cooking a small fish - don't overdo it.
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People are hard to govern. The rulers interfere with too much. That is why people are hard to govern.
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The most fundamental seems fickle.
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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.