Lao Tzu Quotes
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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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Muddy water, let stand, becomes clear.
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The more clever and cunning people are, the stranger the events will be.
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The sturdiest virtue seems fragile.
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Those who know are wise. Those who know themselves are enlightened.
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To know you have enough is to be rich.
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When the highest type of people hear Tao (Truth), they diligently practice it. When the average type of people hear Tao, they half believe in it. When the lowest type of people hear Tao, they laugh at it. If they did not laugh, it would not be Tao.
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If you search everywhere, yet cannot find what you are seeking, it is because what you seek is already in your possession.
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Holding on to the weak is called strength.
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It is the child that sees the primordial secret in Nature and it is the child of ourselves we return to. The child within us is simple and daring enough to live the Secret.
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Use the light that is in you to recover your natural clearness of sight.
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When life begins we are tender and weak When life ends we are stiff and rigid All things, including the grass and trees, are soft and pliable in life and dry in brittle in death So the soft and supple are the companion of life While the stiff and unyielding are the companions of death An army that cannot yield will be defeated A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind Thus by Nature's own decree the hard and strong are defeated while the soft and gentle are triumphant.
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When people are unsettled, loyal ministers arise.
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All things carry yin and embrace yang. They reach harmony by blending with the vital breath.
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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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There is no calamity greater than lightly engaging in war.
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Treat the large as the small and the few as the many.
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That, which others compress - will widen up and open. That, which others weaken - will strengthen. That, which others destroy - will blossom. Whoever wished to take something from the other, will inevitably loose his own.
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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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There was something that finished chaos, born before Heaven and Earth.
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He who possess virtue in abundance may be compared to an infant.
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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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The softest of stuff in the world, penetrates quickly the hardest, insubstantial, it enters where there is no room.
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Those who praise themselves do not prevail.