Lao Tzu Quotes
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Without stepping out the door, you can know the world.
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A winner listens, a loser just waits until it is their turn to talk.
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Make the small big and the few many.
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The reason why rivers and seas are able to be lords over a hundred mountain streams, is that they know how to keep below them. That is why they are able to reign over all the mountain streams.
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The Way of Heaven does not complete, and yet it skillfully achieves victory. It does not speak, and yet it skillfully responds to things. It comes to you without your invitation.
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Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner.
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When goodness is lost, it is replaced by morality.
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Free from desire, you realize the mystery, caught in the desire, you see only the manifestations.
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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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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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He who knows how to be aggressive, and yet remains patient, becomes a receptacle for all of Nature's lessons.
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The longer you travel, the less you know.
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If I have just an ounce of sense, I follow the great Way, and fear only to stray from it.
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Lay plans for the accomplishment of the difficult before it becomes difficult; make something big by starting with it when small.
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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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Let people return to making knots on ropes, instead of writing.
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Realize thy Simple Self, Embrace thy Original Nature.
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The great Way is easy, yet people prefer the side paths. Be aware when things are out of balance. Stay centered within the Tao. When rich speculators prosper While farmers lose their land; when government officials spend money on weapons instead of cures; when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible while the poor have nowhere to turn- all this is robbery and chaos. It is not in keeping with the Tao.
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The leader is best, When people are hardly aware of his existence, Not so good when people praise his government, Less good when people stand in fear, Worst, when people are contemptuous. Fail to honor people, and they will fail to honor you. But of a good leader, who speaks little, When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, The people say, 'We did it ourselves.'
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Knowing the bright, but clinging to the dark, you become a model to the world.
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To rule by knowledge ravages the country.
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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.
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Take time to listen to what is said without words, to obey the law too subtle to be written, to worship the unnameable and to embrace the unformed.
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The highest tone is hard to hear.