Lao Tzu Quotes
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The fish cannot leave the deep waters. The state's weaponry should not be displayed.
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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 hard to govern. The rulers interfere with too much. That is why people are hard to govern.
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Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.
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Give up your relentless moralizing, the continual pinpricks which pierce the skin of your fellows. The distinction between good and evil is the sickness of the mind. Give up your morals, and the people will regain a love of their fellows.
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The more we give to others, the more we are increased.
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He who steals a hook shall be hanged; while he who steals the state shall be crowned as prince.
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If you wish to be out front, then act as if you were behind.
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He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.
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People are born soft and weak. They die hard and stiff.
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Life is going forth; death is returning home.
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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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Dignified, like a guest.
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The words of truth are always paradoxical. To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.
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People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.
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Great acts are made up of small deeds.
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Rule a kingdom as though you were cooking a small fish - don't overdo it.
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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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The flame that burns Twice as bright burns half as long.
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The best way to carve is not to split.
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All things in the world come from being. And being comes from non-being.
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He who accounts all things easy will have many difficulties.
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Obscure, like muddy waters.
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Highest good is like water. Because water excels in benefiting the myriad creatures without contending with them and settles where none would like to be, it comes closest to the way.