Lao Tzu Quotes
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Go to the people. Learn from them. Live with them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. The best of leaders when the job is done, when the task is accomplished, the people will say we have done it ourselves.
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Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.
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If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
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I do not concern myself with gods and spirits either good or evil nor do I serve any.
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The Way to Heaven has no favorites. It is always with the good man.
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If you go searching for the Great Creator, you will come back empty-handed. The source of the universe is ultimately unknowable, a great invisible river flowing forever through a vast and fertile valley. Silent and uncreated, it creates all things.
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People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.
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We put thirty spokes to make a wheel: But it is on the hole in the center that the use of the cart hinges. We make a vessel from a lump of clay; But it is the empty space within the vessel that makes it useful. We make doors and windows for a room; But it is the empty spaces that make the room livable. Thus, while existence has advantages, It is the emptiness that makes it useful.
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Obscure, like muddy waters.
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Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream.
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Truthful words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not truthful. Good words are not persuasive; persuasive words are not good.
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The more we give to others, the more we are increased.
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Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
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The highest virtue seems as low as a valley.
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Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.
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Clay is fashioned into vessels; it is on their empty hollowness that their use depends. Doors and windows are cut out to make a dwelling, and on the empty space within, its use depends. Thus, while the existence of things may be good, it is the non-existence in them that makes them serviceable.
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Water is the softest thing, yet it can penetrate mountains and earth. This shows clearly the principle of softness overcoming hardness.
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Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish. Do not overdo it.
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Life is going forth; death is returning home.
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Keeping plenty of gold and jade in the palace makes no one able to defend it.
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Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.
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Great acts are made up of small deeds.
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The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth; the Named is the mother of all things.
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Those who are unswerving have resolve.