Lao Tzu Quotes
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The more weapons of violence, the more misery to mankind. The triumph of violence ends in a festival of mourning.
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The world is ruled by letting things take their course. It cannot be ruled by interfering.
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Heaven's net is very vast. It is sparsely meshed, yet nothing slips through.
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There is a big misunderstanding about the idea of naturalness. Most people who come to us believing in some freedom or naturalness, but their understanding is what we call [heretical naturalness] ... a kind of "let-alone policy" or sloppiness... For a plant or stone to be natural is no problem. But for us there is some problem, indeed a big problem. To be natural is something we must work on.
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The mark of a moderate man is freedom from his own ideas. Tolerant like the sky, all-pervading like sunlight, firm like a mountain, supple like a tree in the wind, he has no destination in view and makes use of anything life happens to bring his way.
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The sage does not attempt anything very big, and thus achieves greatness.
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That which offers no resistance, overcomes the hardest substances.
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Carrying body and soul and embracing the one, Can you avoid separation?
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Those who know don't talk. Those who talk don't know. Close your mouth, block off your senses, blunt your sharpness, untie your knots, soften your glare, settle your dust. This is the primal identity. Be like the Tao. It can't be approached or withdrawn from, benefited or harmed, honored or brought into disgrace. It gives itself up continually. That is why it endures.
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If Heaven were not clear it might rend. If Earth were not firm it might crumble.
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Silence is a source of great strenght.
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Reputation should be neither sought nor avoided.
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If princes and kings were not exalted they might be overthrown.
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Why separate your spiritual life and your practical life? To an integral being, there is no such distinction.
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Clay is used to make vases, but it is the emptiness they contain that makes them useful.
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If princes and kings could follow it (Tao), all things would by themselves abide, Heaven and Earth would unite and sweet dew would fall. People would by themselves find harmony, without being commanded.
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Those who know when it is enough will not perish.
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Therefore the Sage, wishing to be above the people, must by his words put himself below them; wishing to be before the people, he must put himself behind them. In this way, though he has his place above them, the people do not feel his weight; though he has his place before them, they do not feel it as an injury. Therefore all mankind delight to exalt him, and weary of him not.
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Why is the tao so valuable? Because it is everywhere, and everyone can use it. This is why those who seek will find, And those who reform will be forgiven; Why the good will be rewarded, And the thief who is cunning will escape.
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The new life created by the final integration is self-aware yet without ego, capable of inhabiting a body yet not attached to it, and guided by wisdom rather than emotion. Whole and virtuous, it can never die.
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Never take over the world to tamper with it. Those who want to tamper with it are not fit to take over the world.
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Perfect kindness acts without thinking of kindness.
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Conquering others requires force. Conquering oneself requires strength.
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Not praising the deserving prevents envy.