Lao Tzu Quotes
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Sometimes gain comes from losing, and sometimes loss comes from gaining.
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Lightly given promises must meet with little trust.
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Stop thinking, and end your problems.
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Things are not worth attending to, yet they have to be attended to.
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To be of few words is natural.
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Develop the strength of a man, but live as gently as a woman.
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The great Way is very straight, but people prefer to deviate.
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By compassion one can be brave.
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He does not seek power - yet people follow him.
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From What-is all the world of things was born But What-is sprang in turn from What-is-not.
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He does not seek glory - yet people respect him.
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Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
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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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A winner listens, a loser just waits until it is their turn to talk.
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. . . the mind is desperate to fix the river {of events} in place: Possessed by ideas of the past, preoccupied with images of the future, it overlooks the plain truth of the moment.
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Justice has long arm.
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If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself, if you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.
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The surest test if a person be sane, is if she accepts life whole, as it is.
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So sometimes things are ahead and sometimes they are behind; Sometimes breathing is hard, sometimes it comes easily; Sometimes there is strength and sometimes weakness; Sometimes one is up and sometimes down. Therefore the sage avoids extremes, excesses, and complacency.
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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 world's beginning is its mother. To have found the mother is also to know the children. Although you know the children, cling to the mother. Until your last day you will not be harmed.
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Knowing others is to be clever. Knowing yourself is to be enlightened. Overcoming others requires force. Overcoming yourself requires strength.
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Weapons are not proper instruments for gentle people; they use them only when they have no other choice. Peace and quiet are what they value. They do not glory in victory.
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Water does not force its way.