Lao Tzu Quotes
-
In the world there are four greats, and the king is one of them.
-
The great image lacks shape.
-
Yielding is the way of the Tao.
-
Who can wait in stillness while the mud settles?
-
Excellent warriors are not violent.
-
Empty your mind of all thoughts. Let your heart be at peace. Watch the turmoil of beings, but contemplate their return.
-
You should rule a great country As you would fry a small fish- With the least turning.
-
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.
-
If princes and kings could follow it (Tao), all things would by themselves abide, Heaven and Earth would unite and sweet dew would fall. People would by themselves find harmony, without being commanded.
-
The sage desires no desire, does not value rare treasures, learns without learning, recovers what people have left behind.
-
If Heaven were not clear it might rend. If Earth were not firm it might crumble.
-
Must one dread what others dread?
-
When the palace is magnificent, the fields are filled with weeds, and the granaries are empty.
-
Heaven and Earth last for ever. Why do Heaven and Earth last for ever? They are unborn, so ever living. The sage stays behind, thus he is ahead. He is detached, thus at one with all. Through selfless action, he attains fulfillment.
-
He who loves does not dispute: He who disputes does not love.
-
If you wish to become a divine immortal angel, then restore the angelic qualities of your being through virtue and service. This is the only way to gain the attention of the immortals... These angelic teachers cannot be sought out; it is they who seek out the student. When you succeed in connecting your energy with the divine realm through high awareness and the practice of undiscriminating virtue, the transmission of the ultimate subtle truths will follow.
-
That which offers no resistance, overcomes the hardest substances.
-
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.
-
Those who know when it is enough will not perish.
-
He who stands on tiptoe is not steady. He who strides cannot maintain the pace. He who makes a show is not enlightened. He who is self-righteous is not respected. He who boasts achieves nothing. He who brags will not endure. According to followers of the Tao, "These are extra food and unnecessary luggage." They do not bring happiness, therefore followers of the Tao avoid them.
-
If princes and kings were not exalted they might be overthrown.
-
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.
-
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?
-
The Tao principle is what happens of itself.