Lao Tzu Quotes
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Good Government is not intrusive the people are hardly aware of it; the next best is felt yet loved; then comes that which is known and feared; the worst government is hated.
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Conquering others requires force. Conquering oneself requires strength.
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Reputation should be neither sought nor avoided.
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The living are soft and yielding; the dead are rigid and stiff. Living plants are flexible and tender; the dead are brittle and dry.
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Without looking through the window, you can see Heaven's Way.
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Because every portion of the body, mind, and spirit yearns for the integration of yin and yang, angelic intercourse is led by the spirit rather than the sexual organs. . . . Where ordinary intercourse unites sex organs with sex organs, angelic cultivation unites spirit with spirit, mind with mind, and every cell of one body with every cell of the other body.
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The sage is sharp but does not cut, pointed but does not pierce, forthright but does not offend, bright but does not dazzle.
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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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Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things?
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. . . These are notions of the mind, which is like a knife, always chipping away at the Tao, trying to render it graspable and manageable. But that which is beyond form is ungraspable, and that which is beyond knowing is unmanageable. There is, however, this consolation: She who lets go of the knife will find the Tao at her fingertips.
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Take [preventive] action before things happen. Establish order before disorder has begun.
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The most eloquent seems to stutter.
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Seeing the small is called Clarity. Keeping flexible is called Strength. Using the shining Radiance, You enter the Light, Where no harm can come to you. This is called Enlightenment.
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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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People starve. The rulers consume too much with their taxes. That is why people starve.
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The sage does not attempt anything very big, and thus achieves greatness.
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Chanting is no more holy than listening to the murmur of a stream, counting prayer beads no more sacred than simply breathing. . . . If you wish to attain oneness with the Tao, don't get caught up in spiritual superficialities.
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In dwelling, be close to the land. In meditation, go deep in the heart.
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Love is the greatest link that we have with those who have temporarily left us.
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Those who take long steps cannot keep the pace.
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Those who know when it is enough will not perish.
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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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Throw away profit and greed, and there won't be any thieves.
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Is not the action of nature like the stretching of a bow? The high, it pulls down; the low, it lifts up; It takes from what is in excess In order to make good of what is deficient. Who can take what they have in excess and offer it to others?