Lao Tzu Quotes
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In ancient times, those who followed the Way did not try to give people knowledge thereof, but kept them ignorant.
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Supreme good is like water. Water greatly benefits all things, without conflict. It flows through places that people loathe. Thereby it is close to the Way.
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The sage is one with the world, and lives in harmony with it.
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There is no need to run outside for better seeing... Rather abide at the center of your being; For the more you leave it the less you learn. Search your heart and see... The way to do is to be.
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Be empty. Be still. Just watch everything come and go. This is the way of Nature.
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The Way is ever without action, yet nothing is left undone.
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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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The Tao is infinite, eternal. Why is it eternal? It was never born; thus it can never die. Why is it infinite? It has no desires for itself; thus it is present for all beings. The Master stays behind; that is why she is ahead. She is detached from all things; that is why she is one with them. Because she has let go of herself, she is perfectly fulfilled.
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He who knows he has enough is rich.
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The cords of passion and desire weave a binding net around you. Worldly confrontation makes you stiff and inflexible. The trap of duality is tenacious. Bound, rigid, and trapped, you cannot experience liberation.
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Those who stay where they are will endure.
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The most difficult in the world must be easy in its beginning.
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Good leaders reach solutions, and then stop. They do not dare to rely on force.
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Those who understand others are clever, those who understand themselves are wise.
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My words are very easy to understand and very easy to practice; but there is no one in the world who is able to understand and practice them.
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Gentleness brings victory to him who attacks, and safety to him who defends. Those whom Heaven would save, it fences round with gentleness.
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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 are many paths to enlightenment. Be sure to take the one with a heart.
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All things such as grass and trees are soft and supple in life. At their death they are withered and dry.
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Marriage is three parts love and seven parts forgiveness of sins.
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Without desire there is stillness, and the world settles by itself.
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If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you aren't afraid of dying, there is nothing you can't achieve. Trying to control the future is like trying to take the master carpenter's place. When you handle the master carpenter's tools, chances are that you'll cut your hand.
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When there is no desire, all things are at peace.
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By following this simple path, you become extraordinary, unfathomable, a being of profound cosmic subtlety. You outlive time and space by realizing the subtle truth of the universe.