Lao Tzu Quotes
-
Loss is not as bad as wanting more.
-
The Way is the source of all things, good people's treasure and bad people's refuge.
-
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.
-
Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream.
-
. . . learn to value what is important today in the subtle realm rather than what appears desirable tomorrow in the worldly realm.
-
The Tao of the sage is work without effort.
-
The one who is filled by virtue is like a newborn baby.
-
The way to use life is to do nothing through acting, The way to use life is to do everything through being.
-
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.
-
Good words shall gain you honor in the marketplace, but good deeds shall gain you friends among men.
-
Hold on to the great image, and the whole world follows, follows unharmed, content and completely at peace.
-
Cultivate virtue in yourself, and it will be true.
-
When one gives whatever one can without restraint, the barriers of individuality break down. It no longer becomes possible to tell whether it is the student offering himself to the teacher, or the teacher offering herself to the student. One sees only two immaculate beings, reflecting one another like a pair of brilliant mirrors.
-
What has not yet emerged is easy to prevent.
-
The more laws and orders are multiplied, the more theft and violence increase.
-
The best way to manage anything is by making use of its own nature.
-
In order to contract, It is necessary first to expand. In order to weaken, It is necessary first to strengthen. In order to destroy, It is first necessary to promote. In order to grasp, It is necessary first to give. This is called subtle light. The weak and the tender overcome the hard and the strong.
-
I have three treasures which I hold and keep. The first is mercy; the second is economy. The third is daring not to be ahead of others. From mercy comes courage; from economy comes generosity; From humility comes leadership.
-
Only I am clumsy, like drifting on the waves of the sea, without direction.
-
Why is the sea king of a hundred streams? Because it lies below them... If the sage would guide the people, he must serve with humility. If he would lead them, he must follow behind. In this way when the sage rules, the people will not feel oppressed.
-
The first practice is the practice of undiscriminating virtue: take care of those who are deserving; also, and equally, take care of those who are not. When you extend your virtue in all directions without discriminating, you feet are firmly planted on the path that returns to the Tao.
-
Learn to lead in a nourishing manner. Learn to lead without being possessive. Learn to be helpful without taking the credit. Learn to lead without coercion.
-
I will be fond of keeping still, and the people will of themselves become correct.
-
Those who have hardened, have a covenant with Death. Those who remain gentle are conjoined with Life.