Lao Tzu Quotes
-
When superior people hear of the Way, they carry it out with diligence. When middling people hear of the Way, it sometimes seems to be there, sometimes not. When lesser people hear of the Way, they ridicule it greatly. If they didn't laugh at it, it wouldn't be the Way.
-
Follow diligently the Way in your own heart, but make no display of it to the world.
-
In the Universe the difficult things are done as if they were easy.
-
Take care of what is difficult while it is still easy, and deal with what will become big while it is yet small.
-
The wise does not think that only he is right -thus he knows the truth.
-
Though tightly the net of words forms, how surely truth slips out.
-
In dwelling, be close to the land. In meditation, go deep in the heart. In dealing with others, be gentle and kind. In speech, be true. In ruling, be just. In daily life, be competent. In action, be aware of the time and the season.
-
From What-is all the world of things was born But What-is sprang in turn from What-is-not.
-
Success is as dangerous as failure. Hope is as hollow as fear.
-
Who is unhappy with little, won't be with much; who doesn't appreciate the small won't be able to take care of the large; who doesn't have enough with enough is at the margin or virtue, for the physical body lives from one day to another and if it gets what it really needs, there will be time for meditation, as long as if we try to give it everything it desires, endless will be the task.
-
Free from desire, you realize the mystery, caught in the desire, you see only the manifestations.
-
Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner.
-
The one who does not stray away from her/his nature will live long.
-
He who defends with love will be secure; Heaven will save him, and protect him with love.
-
The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. The unnamable is the eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things. Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations. Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source. This source is called darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding.
-
He does not struggle with anyone - thus no one can vanquish him.
-
Can you care for the people and rule the country and not be cunning?
-
Knowing the bright, but clinging to the dark, you become a model to the world.
-
He who hoards much loses much.
-
People turn their eyes and ears to him (the sage), and the sage cares for them like his own children.
-
In lightness the root is lost. In haste the ruler is lost.
-
When good thing are accomplished, it does not claim (or name) them. This is Te, which is close in meaning to power or virtue. It is something within a person, and it is enhanced by following the Tao, or 'that from which nothing can deviate'.
-
If good happens, good; if bad happens, good.
-
To know that you do not know is the best. To pretend to know when you do not know is a disease.