Lao Tzu Quotes
-
Simple, like uncarved wood.
-
Loving, hating, having expectations: all these are attachments. Attachment prevents the growth of one's true being.
-
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. A good artist lets his intuition lead him wherever it wants. A good scientist has freed himself of concepts and keeps his mind open to what is.
-
The surest test if a person be sane, is if she accepts life whole, as it is.
-
People aren't against you; they are for themselves. The most dangerous risk of all - the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later. He who conquers others is strong, he who conquers himself is mighty.
-
Greed for enlightenment and immortality is no different than greed for material wealth. It is self-centered and dualistic, and thus an obstacle to true attainment. Therefore these states are never achieved by those who covet them; rather, they are the reward of the virtuous.
-
Behave simply and hold on to purity.
-
The nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth. The named is the mother of all things.
-
The Tao is told is not the Tao.
-
Knowing others is to be clever. Knowing yourself is to be enlightened. Overcoming others requires force. Overcoming yourself requires strength.
-
If you can find true contentment, it will last forever.
-
Let the country be small, and the inhabitants few.
-
Fine words are traded. Noble deeds gain respect. But people who are not good, why abandon them?
-
Pain and happiness are simply conditions of the ego. Forget the ego.
-
Going forward seems like retreat.
-
Those who know others are intelligent Those who know themselves have insight. Those who master others have force Those who master themselves have strength.Those who know what is enough are wealthy. Those who persevere have direction. Those who maintain their position endure. And those who die and yet do not perish, live on.
-
The most complete seems lacking. Yet in use it is not exhausted.
-
There is no greater mistake than to make light of an enemy By making light of an enemy many a kingdom has been lost.
-
Truly, only acting without thought of one's life is superior to valuing one's life.
-
He who treasures his body as much as the world can care for the world.
-
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.
-
Praise leads to weakness. Getting it causes fear, losing it causes fear.
-
Why not simply honor your parents, love your children, help your brothers and sisters, be faithful to your friends, care for your mate with devotion, complete your work cooperatively and joyfully, assume responsibility for problems, practice virtue without first demanding it of others, understand the highest truths yet retain an ordinary manner? That would be true clarity, true simplicity, true mastery.
-
Creating without claiming, Doing without taking credit, Guiding without interfering, This is Primal Virtue.