Lao Tzu Quotes
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Returning to the source is stillness. It is returning to one's fate. Returning to one's fate is eternal.
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Your name or your body, what is dearer? Your body or your wealth, what is worthier?
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Returning is the movement of the Way.
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The more laws and restrictions there are, The poorer people become. The sharper men's weapons, The more trouble in the land.
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Those who know do not speak; Those who speak do not know. Stop up the openings, Close down the doors, Rub off the sharp edges. Unravel all confusion. Harmonize the light, Give up contention: This is called finding the unity of life.
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He who prides himself upon wealth and honor hastens his own downfall.
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Clay is used to make vases, but it is the emptiness they contain that makes them useful.
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The truest sayings are paradoxical.
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Those who are self-righteous are not prominent.
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The truth is not always beautiful, nor beautiful words the truth.
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Yielding is the way of the Tao.
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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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In the end, The treasure of life is missed by those who hold on and gained by those who let go.
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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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To be brave without compassion, generous without moderation, and rule without refraining from being first in the world, are certain deaths.
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He who acts, spoils; he who grasps, lets slip.
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Must one dread what others dread?
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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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Seal the openings, shut the doors, dull the sharpness, untie the knots, dim the light, become one with the dust. This is called the profound union.
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The hard and stiff are death's companions. The soft and weak are life's companions.