Lao Tzu Quotes
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When you accept yourself, the Universe accepts you.
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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.
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The purest white seems stained.
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Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.
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He who has achieved this state Is unconcerned with friends and enemies, With good and harm, with honor and disgrace. This therefore is the highest state of man.
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Without desire there is stillness, and the world settles by itself.
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The Way of Tao is this: It strives not, but conquers; It speaks not, but all is made clear; It summons not, but its house is crowded; It contrives not, but the design is perfect.
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Praise of power leads to weakness; Love of things leads to loss; The wise one leads by filling people's hearts; He destroys illusion and disturbs those who believe they are wise; He does nothing yet everything happens.
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If the sage wants to stand above people, he must speak to them from below. If he wants to lead people, he must follow them from behind.
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Those who act will fail. Those who seize will lose.
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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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We go from birth to death. Three out of ten follow life. Three out of ten follow death. People who rush from birth to death are also three out of ten. Why is that so? Because they want to make too much of life.
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To know and not to do is not yet to know.
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See simplicity in the complicated. Achieve greatness in little things.
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The wise man, after learning something new, is afraid to learn anything more until he has put his first lesson into practice.
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Throw away holiness and wisdom, and people will be a hundred times happier. Throw away morality and justice, and people will do the right thing. Throw away industry and profit, and there won't be any thieves. If these three aren't enough, just stay at the center of the circle and let all things take their course.
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Virtue in its grandest aspect is neither more nor less than following reason.
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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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Look, and it can't be seen. Listen, and it can't be heard. Reach, and it can't be grasped. Above, it isn't bright. Below, it isn't dark. Seamless, unnamable, it returns to the realm of nothing. Form that includes all forms, image without an image, subtle, beyond all conception. Approach it and there is no beginning; follow it and there is no end. You can't know it, but you can be it, at ease in your own life. Just realize where you come from: this is the essence of wisdom.
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All things of the world are born of being; being is born of nonbeing.
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The way of heaven is to help and not harm.
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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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Everything in the universe is created from something, which in turn is created from nothing.
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Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench. Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.