Lao Tzu Quotes
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The greatest teacher has nothing to say. He simply gives himself in service, and never worries.
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The Tao never acts with force, yet there is nothing that it can not do.
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The world is ruled by letting things take their course. It cannot be ruled by interfering.
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The hard and stiff are death's companions. The soft and weak are life's companions.
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The great image lacks shape.
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Those who know when it is enough will not perish.
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The subtlest of subtleties, this is the gateway to all mysteries.
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To conquer others is to have power, to conquer yourself is to know the way.
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Silence is a source of great strenght.
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Abandon cleverness, discard profit, and thieves and robbers will disappear.
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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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Tao invariably takes no action, and yet there is nothing left undone.
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Heaven's Way does not contend, yet it certainly triumphs. It does not speak, yet it certainly answers. It does not summon, yet things come by themselves. It seems to be at rest, yet it certainly has a plan.
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He who controls the past controls the future.
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Some have lavish garments, carry sharp swords, and feast on food and drink. They possess more than they can spend. This is called the vanity of robbers. It is certainly not the Way.
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In the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired. In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped.
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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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Excellent warriors are not violent.
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I have three treasures that I cherish. The first is compassion. The second is moderation. The third is not claiming to be first in the world.
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If Heaven were not clear it might rend. If Earth were not firm it might crumble.
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Intelligent people know others. Enlightened people know themselves.
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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 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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The real art of governing consists, so far as possible, in doing nothing.