Lao Tzu Quotes
-
Accomplish but do not boast, accomplish without show, accomplish without arrogance, accomplish without grabbing, accomplish without forcing.
-
Rushing into action, you fail. Trying to grasp things, you lose them. Forcing a project to completion, you ruin what was almost ripe.
-
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.
-
Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things?
-
The soft and weak can overcome the hard and strong.
-
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.
-
The supreme rulers are hardly known by their subjects. The lesser are loved and praised. The even lesser are feared. The least are despised.
-
Every being in the universe is an expression of the Tao. It springs into existence, unconscious, perfect, free, takes on a physical body, lets circumstances complete it. That is why every being spontaneously honors the Tao. The Tao gives birth to all beings, nourishes them, maintains them, cares for them, comforts them, protects them, takes them back to itself, creating without possessing, acting without expecting, guiding without interfering. That is why love of the Tao is in the very nature of things.
-
The truly great man dwells on what is real and not what is on the surface.
-
Attain utmost emptiness. Abide in steadfast stillness.
-
To delight in conquest is to delight in slaughter.
-
Those who know are wise. Those who know themselves are enlightened.
-
A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind. Thus by nature's own decree, the soft and gentle are triumphant.
-
The ancients said: Hulk to be whole.
-
The reality of the building does not consist in the roof and walls, but in the space within to be lived in.
-
Wise men hear and see as little children do.
-
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.
-
Those who take long steps cannot keep the pace.
-
Carrying body and soul and embracing the one, Can you avoid separation?
-
The master does his job and then stops. He understands that the universe is forever out of control, and that trying to dominate events goes against the current of the Tao.
-
Mold clay into a bowl. The empty space makes it useful.
-
Muddy water, let stand, becomes clear.
-
Do not make them (people) weary at their work. If you do not make them weary, they will not be weary of you.
-
Things exalted then decay. This is going against the Way. What goes against the Way meets an early end.