Lao Tzu Quotes
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Happiness perches on misery. Misery crouches beneath happiness.
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How do I know about the world? By what is within me.
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...The sage, traveling all day, Does not lose sight of his baggage. Though there are beautiful things to be seen, He remains unattached and calm.
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Try to change it and you will ruin it. Try to hold it and you will lose it.
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There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.
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Harmony is called the eternal. Knowing the eternal is called clarity.
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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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A good speaker does not stutter.
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I alone have the mind of a fool, and am all muddled and vague. The people are so smart and bright. While I am just dull and confused.
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A good person is the bad person's teacher. A bad person is the good person's task.
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He who gains a victory over other men is strong; but he who gains a victory over himself is all powerful.
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That which offers no resistance can enter where there is no space.
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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.
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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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There are three layers to the universe. In the lower, Tai Ching, and the middle, Shan Ching, the hindrance of a physical bodily existence is required. Those who fail to live consistently in accord with the Tao reside here. In the upper, Yu Ching, there is only Tao: the bondage of form is broken, and the only thing existing is the exquisite energy dance of the immortal divine beings.
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All things issue from it; all things return to it. To find the origin, trace back the manifestations. When you recognize the children and find the mother, you will be free of sorrow. If you close your mind in judgements and traffic with desires, your heart will be troubled. If you keep your mind from judging and aren't led by the senses, your heart will find peace. Seeing into darkness is clarity. Knowing how to yield is strength. Use your own light and return to the source of light. This is called practicing eternity.
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The value of actions lies in their timing.
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I will be fond of keeping still, and the people will of themselves become correct.
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If you scramble about in search of inner peace, you will lose your inner peace.
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He who is great must make humility his base. He who is high must make lowliness his foundation. Thus, princes and kings in speaking of themselves use the terms "lonely," "friendless," "of small account." Is not this making humility their base?
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People take death lightly. They expect too much of life. That is why people take death lightly.
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What is and what is not create each other.
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The world is a sacred vessel. It should not be meddled with. It should not be owned. If you try to meddle with it you will ruin it. If you try to own it you will lose it.
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When the Way governs the world, the proud stallions drag dung carriages. When the Way is lost to the world, war horses are bred outside the city.