Lao Tzu Quotes
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The most eloquent seems to stutter.
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The one who can dissolve her mind will suddenly discover the Tao at her feet.
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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 people starve because those above them eat too much tax-grain. That is the only reason why they starve.
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Carrying body and soul and embracing the one, Can you avoid separation?
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Stillness is easy to maintain.
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The great image lacks shape.
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The sage governs by emptying senses and filling bellies.
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The Way is empty, yet inexhaustible, like an abyss!
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The Master views the parts with compassion, because he understands the whole. His constant practice is humility. He doesn't glitter like a jewel but lets himself be shaped by the Tao, as rugged and common as a stone.
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Intelligent people know others. Enlightened people know themselves.
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Empty your mind of all thoughts. Let your heart be at peace. Watch the turmoil of beings, but contemplate their return.
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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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Knowing constancy, the mind is open. With an open mind, you will be openhearted. Being openhearted you will act royally. Being royal, you will attain the divine. Being divine, you will be at one with the Tao. Being at one with the Tao is eternal. Though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.
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The scholar gains every day; the man of Tao loses every day.
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You should rule a great country As you would fry a small fish- With the least turning.
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Every human being's essential nature is perfect and faultless, but after years of immersion in the world we easily forget our roots and take on a counterfeit nature.
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The best leaders are those their people hardly know exist. The next best is a leader who is loved and praised. Next comes the one who is feared. The worst one is the leader that is despised ... The best leaders value their words, and use them sparingly. When they have accomplished their task, the people say, "Amazing! We did it, all by ourselves!
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Yielding is the way of the Tao.
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Love is the greatest link that we have with those who have temporarily left us.
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Who can wait in stillness while the mud settles?
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When the palace is magnificent, the fields are filled with weeds, and the granaries are empty.
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Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river.
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The higher the sun ariseth, the less shadow doth he cast; even so the greater is the goodness, the less doth it covet praise; yet cannot avoid its rewards in honors.