Lao Tzu Quotes
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Eliminate mental muddiness and obscurity; keep your mind crystal clear. Allow your pure original insight to emerge. Quiet your emotions and abide in serenity. Don't go crazy with the worship of idols, images, and ideas; this is like putting a new head on top of the head you already have. Remember: if you can cease all restless activity, your integral nature will appear.
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The one who does not honor the teacher and the one who does not honor the task, although ever so knowledgeable, they are confused.
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The world is ruled by letting things take their course. It cannot be ruled by interfering.
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A good wanderer leaves no trace.
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Can you gather your vital breath and yet be tender like a newborn baby?
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Returning is the movement of the Way.
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The hard and stiff are death's companions. The soft and weak are life's companions.
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If Heaven were not clear it might rend. If Earth were not firm it might crumble.
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Must one dread what others dread?
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Who can wait in stillness while the mud settles?
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The truth is not always beautiful, nor beautiful words the truth.
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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 subtlest of subtleties, this is the gateway to all mysteries.
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To lead people, walk beside them ... As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate ... When the best leader's work is done the people say, 'We did it ourselves!
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Too much success is not an advantage. Do not tinkle like jade Or clatter like stone chimes.
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When the intelligent and animal souls are held together in one embrace, they can be kept from separating.
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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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Trying to understand is like straining through muddy water. Be still and allow the mud to settle.
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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 Tao's principle is spontaneity.
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No disaster is worse than being discontented.
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The scholar gains every day; the man of Tao loses every day.
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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.
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Those who know do not talk. Those who talk do not know.