Lao Tzu Quotes
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Can you let go of words and ideas, attitudes and expectations? If so, then the Tao will loom into view.
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Knowledge studies others, wisdom is self known.
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Face the simple fact before it comes involved. Solve the small problem before it becomes big.
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What makes a kingdom great is its being like a down-flowing river,--the central point towards which all the smaller streams under Heaven converge; or like the female throughout the world, who by quiescence always overcomes the male. And quiescence is a form of humility.
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There is something obscure which is complete before heaven and earth arose; tranquil, quiet, standing alone without change, moving without peril. It could be the mother of everything. Not knowing its name, I call it Tao.
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Do not strive for the shine of jade, but clatter like stone.
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When family ties are disturbed, devoted children arise.
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First and last follow each other.
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When leading people and serving Heaven, nothing exceeds moderation.
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Those who understand others are clever, those who understand themselves are wise.
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If you really want everything, then give up everything.
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Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.
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He who knows he has enough is rich.
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Allow your softer, more intuitive, and less dominating feminine qualities to rise to the fore, so that you're surrendering rather than dominating, receiving rather than broadcasting, loving rather than fighting.
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The wise are not learned, the learned are not wise.
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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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In ancient times, people said that imperfect moves to becoming perfect. Are these words vain? No! Truly, by gaining Unity you come to Perfection!
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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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Whatever is flexible and living will tend to grow; whatever is rigid and blocked will wither and die.
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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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All things of the world are born of being; being is born of nonbeing.
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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 sage is one with the world, and lives in harmony with it.
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I do not know its name. I call it the Way. For the lack of better words I call it great.