Lao Tzu Quotes
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Arms are instruments of ill omen.... When one is compelled to use them, it is best to do so without relish. There is no glory in victory, and to glorify it despite this is to exult in the killing of men.... When great numbers of people are killed, one should weep over them with sorrow. When victorious in war, one should observe mourning rites.
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The Way is eternal. Until your last day, you are free from peril.
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What honor can there be without humility? What heights can be reached without being low? The pieces of a chariot are useless unless the work in accordance with the whole A man's life brings nothing unless he lives in accordance with the whole universe Playing one's part in accordance with the universe is true humility So whether you're a gem in the royal court or a stone on the common path If you accept your part with humility the glory of the universe will be yours.
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How can one liberate the many? By first liberating his own being. He does this not by elevating himself, but by lowering himself. He lowers himself to that which is simple, modest, true; integrating it into himself, he becomes a master of simplicity, modesty, truth.
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What is well planted will not be uprooted.
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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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Happiness perches on misery. Misery crouches beneath happiness.
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To joy in conquest is to joy in the loss of human life.
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Yielding, like ice about to melt.
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The way to use life is to do nothing through acting, The way to use life is to do everything through being.
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Filling all the way to the brim is not as good as halting in time.
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Use the Light that dwells within you to regain your natural clarity of sight.
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Why do the people think so little of death? Because the rulers demand too much of life. Therefore the people take death lightly.
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When the people of the world all know beauty as beauty, There arises the recognition of ugliness. When they all know the good as good, There arises the recognition of evil.
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The Tao gives birth to One. One gives birth to Two. Two gives birth to Three. Three gives birth to all things. All things have their backs to the female and stand facing the male. When male and female combine, all things achieve harmony. Ordinary men hate solitude. But the Master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe.
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If you scramble about in search of inner peace, you will lose your inner peace.
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The one who is filled by virtue is like a newborn baby.
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Give evil nothing to oppose and it will disappear by itself.
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The truly great ones rely on substance, and not on surface, hold on to the fruit, and not to the flower.
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What is well rooted cannot be pulled up. What is firmly grasped will not slip loose. It will be honoured from generation to generation.
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Practice non-action. Work without doing.
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He who loves does not dispute: He who disputes does not love.
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The True Person avoids extremes, self-indulgence, and extravagance.
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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.