Lao Tzu Quotes
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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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In stillness the muddied water returns to clarity.
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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 supreme rulers are hardly known by their subjects. The lesser are loved and praised. The even lesser are feared. The least are despised.
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Shape clay into a vessel; It is the space within that makes it useful. Cut doors and windows for a room; It is the holes which make it useful. Therefore benefit comes from what is there; Usefulness from what is not there.
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He who acts, spoils; he who grasps, lets slip.
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Heaven's net is very vast. It is sparsely meshed, yet nothing slips through.
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When the ancient Masters said, "If you want to be given everything, give everything up," they weren't using empty phrases. Only in being lived by the Tao can you be truly yourself.
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The eternal void is filled with infinite possibilities.
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Mold clay into a bowl. The empty space makes it useful.
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When the palace is magnificent, the fields are filled with weeds, and the granaries are empty.
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When two opposing sides meet in battle, the one without an enemy will be victorious.
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Accomplish but do not boast, accomplish without show, accomplish without arrogance, accomplish without grabbing, accomplish without forcing.
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In dwelling, be close to the land. In meditation, go deep in the heart.
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To conquer others is to have power, to conquer yourself is to know the way.
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Those who would take over the earth and shape it to their will, never, I notice succeed.
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What resists, persists.
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The soft and weak can overcome the hard and strong.
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The greatest revelation is stillness.
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The man of knowledge acquires something new everyday, and the man of Tao lets go of something new every day.
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Those who stand on their toes are not steady.
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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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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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The subtlest of subtleties, this is the gateway to all mysteries.