Lao Tzu Quotes
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When pure sincerity forms within, it is outwardly realized in other people's hearts.
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Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habit.
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When the uncarved wood is split, its parts are put to use. When the sage is put to use, he becomes the head.
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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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Other people are occupied, I alone am unwilling, like the outcast.
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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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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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The wise cares about everyone, and he becomes an example to all.
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A man is born gentle and weak. At death he is hard and stiff.
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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.
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Therefore the Sage, wishing to be above the people, must by his words put himself below them; wishing to be before the people, he must put himself behind them. In this way, though he has his place above them, the people do not feel his weight; though he has his place before them, they do not feel it as an injury. Therefore all mankind delight to exalt him, and weary of him not.
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When you accurately perceive the fluidity of things, you can also begin to perceive the constancy behind them: the creative, transformative, boundless, immutable Tao.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Tao invariably takes no action, and yet there is nothing left undone.
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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.
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Return animosity with virtue.
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There is a big misunderstanding about the idea of naturalness. Most people who come to us believing in some freedom or naturalness, but their understanding is what we call [heretical naturalness] ... a kind of "let-alone policy" or sloppiness... For a plant or stone to be natural is no problem. But for us there is some problem, indeed a big problem. To be natural is something we must work on.
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If you are untrustworthy, people will not trust you.
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The wise trusts not only to his physical eyes - thus he can see clearly.
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Truly, only those who see illness as illness can avoid illness.
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The sage desires no desire, does not value rare treasures, learns without learning, recovers what people have left behind.
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The people starve because those above them eat too much tax-grain. That is the only reason why they starve.