Lao Tzu Quotes
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The ego is entranced by ... names and ideas... However names and concepts only block your perception of this Great Oneness. Therefore it is wise to ignore them. Those who live inside their egos are continually bewildered.
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Can you gather your vital breath and yet be tender like a newborn baby?
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The wise cares about everyone, and he becomes an example to all.
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Filling all the way to the brim is not as good as halting in time.
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The Way is the source of all things, good people's treasure and bad people's refuge.
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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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A good speaker does not stutter.
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Few things under heaven bring more benefit than the lessons learned from silence and the actions taken without striving.
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Always without desire we must be found, If its deep mystery we would sound; But if desire always within us be, Its outer fringe is all that we shall see.
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The most able seems clumsy.
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The truest sayings are paradoxical.
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Returning is the movement of the Way.
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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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Acting without design, occupying oneself without making a business of it, finding the great in what is small and the many in the few, repaying injury with kindness, effecting difficult things while they are easy, and managing great things in their beginnings; this is the method of Tao.
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Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere. Those who are skilled (in the Tao) do not dispute (about it); the disputatious are not skilled in it. Those who know (the Tao) are not extensively learned; the extensively learned do not know it.
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True words aren't eloquent; eloquent words aren't true. Wise men don't need to prove their point; men who need to prove their point aren't wise. The Master has no possessions. The more he does for others, the happier he is. The more he gives to others, the wealthier he is. The Tao nourishes by not forcing. By not dominating, the Master leads.
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The (method of) correction shall by a turn become distortion, and the good in it shall by a turn become evil.
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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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I do not act, and people become reformed by themselves.
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Those who would take over the earth and shape it to their will, never, I notice succeed.
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Having reached a high level of realization (or having accomplished anything in life), don't get excited or puffed up with pride but remain calm, humble, and in "perfect equanimity" if you want to continue in this deep state of consciousness.
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Everything will settle in its own place automatically.
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I will be fond of keeping still, and the people will of themselves become correct.
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When a country is in harmony with the Tao, the factories make trucks and tractors. When a country goes counter to the Tao, warheads are stockpiled outside the cities. There is no greater illusion than fear, no greater wrong than preparing to defend yourself, no greater misfortune than having an enemy. Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe.