Lao Tzu Quotes
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When you realize where you come from, you naturally become tolerant, amused, kindhearted as a grandmother, and dignified as a king. Immersed in wonder, you can deal with whatever life brings you, and when death comes, you are ready.
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For knowledge, add something every day. For wisdom....subtract.
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Hold on to the ancient Way to master the present, and to learn the distant beginning.
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The truly great ones rely on substance, and not on surface, hold on to the fruit, and not to the flower.
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With virtue and quietness one may conquer the world.
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If you want everything, you first have to give everything up.
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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.
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That so few understand me is why I am treasured.
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The progress of the Way seems retreating.
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Free from desire, you realize the mystery, caught in the desire, you see only the manifestations.
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By not claiming to be first in the world one can rule.
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He who knows enough is enough will always have enough.
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Be as the still mountain; Move like the great river.
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If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never be truly fulfilled.
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Where there is no conflict, there is no fault.
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Those who boast are not respected.
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I have no desire to desire, and people become like the uncarved wood by themselves.
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Only he who does not seek to be ahead of others is capable of living in harmony with everyone.
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When the sage stands above people, they are not oppressed. When he leads people, they are not obstructed. The world will exalt him and not grow tired of him.
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Make the small big and the few many.
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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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There is nothing softer and weaker than water, and yet there is nothing better for attacking hard and strong things.
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If you worry more for others' beliefs, then you will be their slave.
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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.