Lao Tzu Quotes
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Act without striving. Work without interfering. Find the flavour in what is flavourless.
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In the highest antiquity, the people did not know that there were rulers. In the next age they loved them and praised them. In the next they feared them; in the next they despised them.
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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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People are born soft and weak. They die hard and stiff.
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All things in the world come from being. And being comes from non-being.
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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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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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Because of a great love, one is courageous.
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Governing a large country is like frying a small fish. You spoil it with too much poking. Center your country in the Tao and evil will have no power. Not that it isn't there, but you'll be able to step out of its way. Give evil nothing to oppose and it will disappear by itself.
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When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad. Being and non-being create each other. Difficult and easy support each other. Long and short define each other. High and low depend on each other. Before and after follow each other. Therefore the Master acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything. Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go. She has but doesn't possess, acts but doesn't expect. When her work is done, she forgets it. That is why it lasts forever.
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Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish - too much handling will spoil it.
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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 Way to Heaven has no favorites. It is always with the good man.
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The highest virtue seems as low as a valley.
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When the government is quite unobtrusive, people are indeed pure. When the government is quite prying, people are indeed conniving.
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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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Man takes his law from the Earth; the Earth takes its law from Heaven; Heaven takes its law from the Tao. The law of the Tao is its being what it is.
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Words spoken about the Way have no taste. When looked at, there's not enough to see. When listened to, there's not enough to hear. When used, it is never exhausted.
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He who walks on tip-toe does not walk on solid ground.