Lao Tzu Quotes
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Without going outside, you may know the whole world, without looking through the window, you may see the ways of heaven. The farther you go, the less you know. Thus the sage knows without traveling; he sees without looking; he works without doing.
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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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Lightly given promises must meet with little trust.
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Can you care for the people and rule the country and not be cunning?
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The Tao is told is not the Tao.
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Much knowledge will corrupt the heart,/When partly understood,/And so the people grow too smart,/But neither wise nor good.
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The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens.
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If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.
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What man has more than enough and gives it to the world? Only the man of Tao.
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Things are not worth attending to, yet they have to be attended to.
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Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
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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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When you have accomplished your goal simply walk away. This is the path way to Heaven.
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Can you make your soul embrace the One and not lose it?
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Approach your own inner life with a loving quality that accepts who you are without trying to change who you are.
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Develop the strength of a man, but live as gently as a woman.
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He who hoards much loses much.
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Distortion upon distortion: . . . the more one uses the mind, the more confused one becomes.
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If you attach yourself to gross energies - loving this person, hating that clan, rejecting one experience or habitually indulging in another - then you will lead a series of heavy, attached lives. This can go on for a very long and tedious time.
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Let the country be small, and the inhabitants few.
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Your own positive future begins in this moment. All you have is right now. Every goal is possible from here.
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Keep your mouth shut, and close up the doors of sight and sound, and as long as you live you will have no vexation. But open your mouth, or become inquisitive, and you will be in trouble all your life long.
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He does not seek glory - yet people respect him.
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Face the simple fact before it comes involved. Solve the small problem before it becomes big.