Lao Tzu Quotes
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Meandering leads to perfection.
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Sometimes gain comes from losing, and sometimes loss comes from gaining.
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The great Way is very straight, but people prefer to deviate.
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A good door needs no lock, still it can't be opened.
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To be of few words is natural.
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The more laws that are written, the more criminals are produced.
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As it acts in the world, the Tao is like the bending of a bow. The top is bent downward; the bottom is bent up. It adjusts excess and deficiency so that there is perfect balance.
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That which is achieved the most, still has the whole of its future yet to be achieved.
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A good traveler leaves no tracks. Good speech lacks fault-finding.
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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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The more prohibitions you have, the less virtuous people will be. Try to make people moral, and you lay the groundwork for vice.
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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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He who treasures his body as much as the world can care for the world.
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Appetite for food and sex is nature.
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Stop thinking, and end your problems.
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Other people have more than they need, I alone seem wanting.
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If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.
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To produce things and to rear them, To produce, but not to take possession of them, To act, but not to rely on one's own ability, To lead them, but not to master them - This is called profound and secret virtue.
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Lightly given promises must meet with little trust.
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Success is as dangerous as failure. Hope is as hollow as fear. What does it mean that success is a dangerous as failure? Whether you go up the ladder or down it, you position is shaky. When you stand with your two feet on the ground, you will always keep your balance. What does it mean that hope is as hollow as fear? Hope and fear are both phantoms that arise from thinking of the self. When we don't see the self as self, what do we have to fear? See the world as your self. Have faith in the way things are. Love the world as your self; then you can care for all things.
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He who knows enough is enough will always have enough.
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The wise trusts not only to his physical eyes - thus he can see clearly.
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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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There is no greater crime than desire.