Lao Tzu Quotes
-
Truly, only those who see illness as illness can avoid illness.
-
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.
-
Water benefits the ten thousand things and does not oppose them.
-
If princes and kings were not exalted they might be overthrown.
-
The great Way is easy, yet people prefer the side paths. Be aware when things are out of balance. Stay centered within the Tao.
-
In the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired. In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped.
-
The True Person governs by emptying the heart of desire and filling the belly with food, weakening ambitions and strengthening bones.
-
A good manager is best when people barely know that he exists. Not so good when people obey and acclaim him. Worse when they despise him.
-
Stillness is easy to maintain.
-
The sage is sharp but does not cut, pointed but does not pierce, forthright but does not offend, bright but does not dazzle.
-
The Tao principle is what happens of itself.
-
Rushing into action, you fail. Trying to grasp things, you lose them. Forcing a project to completion, you ruin what was almost ripe.
-
The best people are like water, which benefits all things and does not compete with them. It stays in lowly places that others reject. This is why it is so similar to the Way.
-
The men who are great live with that which is substantial, they do not stay with that which is superficial; they abide with realities, they do not remain with what is showy. The one they discard, the other they hold.
-
He (the sage) is good to those who are good. He is also good to those who are not good. That is the virtue of good.
-
Tao loves and nourishes all things, but does not dominate it over them.
-
Whoever is capable of knowing when they have had enough will always be satisfied.
-
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.
-
Excellent warriors are not violent.
-
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.
-
Love is the greatest link that we have with those who have temporarily left us.
-
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.
-
Those who take long steps cannot keep the pace.
-
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.