Lao Tzu Quotes
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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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Abandon cleverness, discard profit, and thieves and robbers will disappear.
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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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The best soldier does not attack. The superior fighter succeeds without violence. The greatest conqueror wins without struggle. The most successful manager leads without dictating. This is intelligent non aggressiveness.
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Peace and quiet govern the world.
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What is firmly rooted cannot be pulled out.
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Water benefits the ten thousand things and does not oppose them.
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Heaven's net is very vast. It is sparsely meshed, yet nothing slips through.
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All things carry yin and embrace yang. They reach harmony by blending with the vital breath.
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Tao loves and nourishes all things, but does not dominate it over them.
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If you want to shrink something, you must first allow it to expand. If you want to get rid of something, you must first allow it to flourish. If you want to take something, you must first allow it to be given. This is called the subtler perception of the way things are. The soft overcomes the hard. The slow overcomes the fast. Let your workings remain a mystery. Just show people the results.
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The sage is sharp but does not cut, pointed but does not pierce, forthright but does not offend, bright but does not dazzle.
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Intelligent people know others. Enlightened people know themselves.
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Those who are content suffer no disgrace.
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If your virtue is especially radiant, it can be possible to open a pathway to the subtle realm and receive these celestial teachings directly from the immortals.
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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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When people do not dread authorities, then a greater dread descends.
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The universe is deathless; Is deathless because, having no finite self, it stays infinite. A sound man by not advancing himself stays the further ahead of himself, By not confining himself to himself sustains himself outside himself: By never being an end in himself he endlessly becomes himself.
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The eternal void is filled with infinite possibilities.
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Because one believes in oneself, one doesn't try to convince. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn't need others' approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.