Lao Tzu Quotes
-
Why do the people think so little of death? Because the rulers demand too much of life. Therefore the people take death lightly.
-
The Master's power is like this. He lets all things come and go effortlessly, without desire. He never expects results; thus he is never disappointed. He is never disappointed; thus his spirit never grows old.
-
The value of actions lies in their timing.
-
Leadership is your ability to hide your panic from others.
-
A good person is the bad person's teacher. A bad person is the good person's task.
-
Cultivate virtue in yourself, and it will be true.
-
He (the sage) is good to those who are good. He is also good to those who are not good. That is the virtue of good.
-
We desire to understand the world by giving names to the things we see, but these things are only the effects of something subtle.
-
Governing a large country is like frying a small fish. You spoil it with too much poking.
-
If you want to become full, let yourself be empty.
-
The one who rules like the mother lasts long.
-
Peace is our natural state of being.
-
Those who flow as life flows know they need no other force.
-
Nature's way is simple and easy, but men prefer the intricate and artificial.
-
There is no greater disaster than discontent.
-
When people see some things as good, other things become bad.
-
The sage wears coarse clothes, concealing jade.
-
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.
-
Nature does not have to insist.
-
Other people are joyous, like on the feast of the ox, like on the way up to the terrace in the spring. I alone am inert, giving no sign, like a newborn baby who has not learned to smile.
-
By steadily disciplining the animal nature, until it becomes one pointed, it is possible to establish conscious awareness of The Eternal.
-
He who overcomes others has force; he who overcomes himself is strong.
-
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 no substance can penetrate what has no opening.