Lao Tzu Quotes
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Tao loves and nourishes all things, but does not dominate it over them.
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To manage your mind, know that there is nothing, and then relinquish all attachment to nothingness.
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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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Worlds and particles, bodies and beings, time and space: All are transient expressions of the Tao.
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The river and the sea can be kings of a hundred valleys, because they lie below them.
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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 ten thousand things flourish and then each returns to the root from which it came. Returning to the root is stillness. Through stillness each fulfils its destiny.
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The weak overcomes the strong. The soft overcomes the hard. Everybody in the world knows this, still nobody makes use of it.
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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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Intelligent people know others. Enlightened people know themselves.
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The mature person perceives the fruitlessness of rigid, external methodologies.
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When people are unsettled, loyal ministers arise.
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Because he (the Sage) demands no honor, he will never be dishonored.
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The past has no power to stop you from being present now. Only your grievance about the past can do that. What is grievance? The baggage of old thought and emotion.
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The eternal void is filled with infinite possibilities.
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In stillness the muddied water returns to clarity.
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Those who stand on their toes are not steady.
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The one who does not honor the teacher and the one who does not honor the task, although ever so knowledgeable, they are confused.
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When the palace is magnificent, the fields are filled with weeds, and the granaries are empty.
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There is one appointed supreme executioner. Truly, trying to take the place of the supreme executioner is like trying to carve wood like a master carpenter. Of those who try to carve wood like a master carpenter, there are few who do not injure their hands.
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The sage honors his part of the settlement, but does not exact his due from others.
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Mold clay into a bowl. The empty space makes it useful.
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Take [preventive] action before things happen. Establish order before disorder has begun.
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The rigid and big belong below. The soft and weak belong above.