Lao Tzu Quotes
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The wise person dines on something more subtle: He eats the understanding that the named was born from the unnamed, that all being flows from non-being, that the describable world emanates from an indescribable source.
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Nature does not have to insist.
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Gain or loss, what is worse?
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Great talents ripen late; the highest notes are hard to hear.
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When you are one with loss, the loss is experienced willingly.
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There is no greater disaster than discontent.
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No weapon is sharper than will.
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Remember: if you can cease all restless activity, your integral nature will appear.
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Failure is an opportunity. If you blame someone else, there is no end to the blame. Therefore the Master fulfills her own obligations and corrects her own mistakes. She does what she needs to do and demands nothing of others.
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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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Stop trying to control. Let go of fixed plans and concepts, and the world will govern itself.
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Knowing that you do not know is the best. Not knowing that you do not know is an illness.
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Seek not happiness too greedily and be not fearful of happiness.
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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.
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Good words shall gain you honor in the marketplace, but good deeds shall gain you friends among men.
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When everyone in the world sees beauty, then ugly exists.
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Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
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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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Stay at the center and let all things take their course.
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Fame or integrity: which is more important? Money or happiness: which is more valuable? Success or failure: which is more destructive? If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never truly be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
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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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A tree that is unbending, is easily broken.
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Racing through the field and hunting make the mind wild.
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Because he (the Sage) opposes no one, no one in the world can oppose him.