Lao Tzu Quotes
-
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.
-
There is a time to go ahead and a time to stay behind. There is a time to breathe easy and time to breathe hard. There is a time to be vigorous and a time to be gentle. There is a time to gather and a time to release. Can you see things as they are And let them be all on their own?
-
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.
-
If one desires to receive one must first give. This is called profound understanding.
-
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.
-
Those who act will fail. Those who seize will lose.
-
Without going outside, you may know the whole world!
-
The truth often sounds paradoxical.
-
See simplicity in the complicated. Achieve greatness in little things.
-
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.
-
The way of heaven is to help and not harm.
-
If people are not afraid of dying, why threaten them with death?
-
Only those who leisurely approach that which the masses are busy about can be busy about that which the masses take leisurely.
-
Complete your task. Seek no reward. Make no claims. Without faltering fully choose to do what you must do.
-
We are all capable of much more than we think we are.
-
The things that have acquired unity are these: Heaven by unity has become clear; Earth by unity has become steady; The Spirit by unity has become spiritual; The Valley by unity has become full; All things by unity have come into existence.
-
The Great Vessel takes long to complete.
-
Virtue in its grandest aspect is neither more nor less than following reason.
-
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.
-
The wise man, after learning something new, is afraid to learn anything more until he has put his first lesson into practice.
-
The purest white seems stained.
-
Become totally empty Quiet the restlessness of the mind Only then will you witness everything unfolding from emptiness
-
Before healing others, heal yourself.
-
A tree that can fill the span of a man's arms grows from a downy tip; A terrace nine stories high rises from level earth; A journey of a thousand miles starts from beneath one's feet.