Lao Tzu Quotes
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When the worst student hears about the Way, he laughs out loud. If he did not laugh, it would be unworthy of being the Way.
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No thought, no action, no movement, total stillness: only thus can one manifest the true nature and law of things from within and unconsciously, and at last become one with heaven and earth.
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Use your own light and return to the source of light. This is called practicing eternity.
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Simple, like uncarved wood.
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...the more you talk of it, the less you understand.
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Free from desire, you realize the mystery, caught in the desire, you see only the manifestations.
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Pride attaches undue importance to the superiority of one's status in the eyes of others; and shame is fear of humiliation at one's inferior status in the estimation of others. When one sets one's heart on being highly esteemed, and achieves such rating, then he or she is automatically involved in fear of losing status.
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The grandest virtue seems deficient.
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That so few understand me is why I am treasured.
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Seek not happiness too greedily and be not fearful of happiness.
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Thirty spokes are joined in the wheel's hub. The hole in the middle makes it useful.
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The good man is the teacher of the bad, And the bad is the material from which the good may learn. He who does not value the teacher, Or greatly care for the material, Is greatly deluded although he may be learned. Such is the essential mystery.
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When everyone in the world sees beauty, then ugly exists.
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Fame of self: Which matters more? Self or wealth: Which is more precious? Gain or loss: Which is more painful?
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Sometimes gain comes from losing, and sometimes loss comes from gaining.
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Gain or loss, what is worse?
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The Master acts without doing, and everything gets done.
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To bear the country's disgrace is to rule the shrines of soil and grain. To bear the country's misfortunes is to be the king of the world.
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Words have divided man from woman, one from another, this from that, until only sages know how to put things together. Without words, without even understanding, lovers find each other. The moment of finding is always a surprise, like meeting an old friend never before known.
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To know that you do not know is the best. To pretend to know when you do not know is a disease.
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My words are easy to understand and easy to perform, Yet no man under heaven knows them or practices them.
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One who believes in himself has no need to convince others.
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Man is ruled by Earth. Earth is ruled by Heaven. Heaven is ruled by the Way. The Way is ruled by itself.
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Know the white, But keep the black, Be an example to the world! Being an example to the world, Ever true and unwavering, Return to the infinite.