Lao Tzu Quotes
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With virtue and quietness one may conquer the world.
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Going back to the origin is called peace; it means reversion to destiny. Reversion to destiny is called eternity. Those who know eternity are called enlightened.
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He who knows enough is enough will always have enough.
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There is no greater crime than desire.
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Those who have the courage to dare will perish. Those who have the courage not to dare will live.
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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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Without the tao, Kindness and compassion are replaced by law and justice; Faith and trust are supplanted by ritual and ceremony.
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Marriage is three parts love and seven parts forgiveness of sins.
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True perfection seems imperfect, yet it is perfectly itself. True fullness seems empty, yet it is fully present. True straightness seems crooked. True wisdom seems foolish. True art seems artless. The Master allows things to happen. She shapes events as they come. She steps out of the way and lets the Tao speak for itself.
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Do not imagine that an integral being has the ambition of enlightening the unaware or raising worldly people to the divine realm. To her, there is no self and other, and hence no one to be raised; no heaven and hell, and hence no destination.
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The generals have a saying: "Rather than make the first move it is better to wait and see. Rather than advance an inch it is better to retreat a yard." This is called going forward without advancing, pushing back without using weapons. There is no greater misfortune than underestimating your enemy. Underestimating your enemy means thinking that he is evil. Thus you destroy your three treasures and become an enemy yourself. When two great forces oppose each other, the victory will go to the one that knows how to yield.
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Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habit.
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Justice has long arm.
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The nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth. The named is the mother of all things.
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Confidence is the greatest friend.
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A good athlete can enter a state of body-awareness in which the right stroke or the right movement happens by itself, effortlessly, without any interference of the conscious will. This is a paradigm for non-action: the purest and most effective form of action. The game plays the game; the poem writes the poem; we can't tell the dancer from the dance. It happens when we trust the intelligence of the universe in the same way that an athlete or a dancer trusts the superior intelligence of the body.
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Fine words are traded. Noble deeds gain respect. But people who are not good, why abandon them?
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If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.
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The valley spirit never dies. It is called the mystical female.
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He who knows how to be aggressive, and yet remains patient, becomes a receptacle for all of Nature's lessons.