Lao Tzu Quotes
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If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
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Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream.
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New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.
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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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Keeping plenty of gold and jade in the palace makes no one able to defend it.
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I observe myself and I come to know others.
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Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish. Do not overdo it.
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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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The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world.
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The highest virtue seems as low as a valley.
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The fish cannot leave the deep waters. The state's weaponry should not be displayed.
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Great acts are made up of small deeds.
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The best soldiers are not warlike; the best fighters do not lose their temper. The greatest conquerors are those who overcome their enemies without strife. The greatest directors of men are those who yield place to others. This is called the Virtue of not striving, the capacity for directing mankind; this is being the compeer of Heaven. It was the highest goal of the ancients.
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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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When a nation is filled with strife, then do patriots flourish.
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Simply see that you are at the center of the universe, and accept all things and beings as parts of your infinite body. When you perceive that an act done to another is done to yourself, you have understood the great truth.
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To realize that you do not understand is a virtue; Not to realize that you do not understand is a defect.
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The feminine values are the fountain of bliss. Know the masculine, Keep to the feminine.
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He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.
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Those who are unswerving have resolve.
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Filling life exceedingly is called ominous.
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The real key to health and happiness and success is self knowledge.
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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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Without opening your door, you can open your heart to the world. Without looking out your window, you can see the essence of the Tao. The more you know, the less you understand. The Master arrives without leaving, sees the light without looking, achieves without doing a thing.