Lao Tzu Quotes
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Solve it before it happens. Order it before chaos emerges.
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No misfortune is worse than underestimating the enemy. Underestimating the enemy, I risk losing my treasure.
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Don't think you can attain total awareness and whole enlightenment without proper discipline and practice. This is egomania. Appropriate rituals channel your emotions and life energy toward the light. Without the discipline to practice them, you will tumble constantly backward into darkness.
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A man's excellence is like that of water; It benefits all things without striving; It takes to the low places shunned by men. Water is akin to Tao. . . . In all the earth nothing weaker than water, Yet in attacking the hard, nothing superior, Nothing so certain in wearing down strength: There is no way to resist it. Note then: The weak conquer the strong, The yielding outlast the aggressors.
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He that humbles himself shall be preserved entire. He that bends shall be made straight. He that is empty shall be filled. He that is worn out shall be renewed. He who has little shall succeed. He who has much shall go astray.
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When you extend your goodwill in every direction, regardless of circumstances, you begin to see that we are all one.
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When taxes are too high, people go hungry.
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When everyone in the world sees beauty, then ugly exists.
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No weapon is sharper than will.
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Mastering others is strength. Mastering oneself makes you fearless.
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Success is as dangerous as failure. Hope is as hollow as fear.
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In lightness the root is lost. In haste the ruler is lost.
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Cut out doors and windows for the house. The holes make it useful.
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When you find the way/ others will find you./ Passing by on the road/ they will be drawn to your door./ The way that cannot be heard/ will be echoed in your voice./ The way that cannot be seen/ will be reflected in your eyes.
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Being satisfied with little, you can gain much. Seeking much you will go astray. The wise heeds this precept. If it could be so with all people!
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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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I let go of all desire for the common good, and the good becomes as common as the grass.
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If you want to know me, look inside your heart.
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Therefore the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death. The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.
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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.
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The Great Tao flows everywhere, to the left and to the right, all things depend on it to exist, and it does not abandon them. To its accomplishments it lays no claims. It loves and nourished all things, but does not lord it over them.
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Learn from the people. Plan with the people. Begin with what they have. Build on what they know.
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Great talents ripen late; the highest notes are hard to hear.
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Who has excess and supplies the world? Only the one who follows the Way.