-
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.
-
When family ties are disturbed, devoted children arise.
-
To know and not to do is not yet to know.
-
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.
-
A foolish man is always doing, Yet much remains to be done.
-
Can you let go of words and ideas, attitudes and expectations? If so, then the Tao will loom into view.
-
The Great Vessel takes long to complete.
-
Those who act will fail. Those who seize will lose.
-
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.
-
Lessen selfishness and restrain desires.
-
He who knows he has enough is rich.
-
Only those who leisurely approach that which the masses are busy about can be busy about that which the masses take leisurely.
-
Everything in the universe is created from something, which in turn is created from nothing.
-
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.
-
The good man is the teacher of the bad, And the bad is the material from which the good may learn. He who does not value the teacher, Or greatly care for the material, Is greatly deluded although he may be learned. Such is the essential mystery.
-
The purest white seems stained.
-
If one desires to receive one must first give. This is called profound understanding.
-
Behave simply and hold on to purity.
-
The sage is one with the world, and lives in harmony with it.
-
All things such as grass and trees are soft and supple in life. At their death they are withered and dry.
-
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.
-
It is wealth to be content.