Lao Tzu Quotes
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All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy, and great things in that which is small.
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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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Favor and disgrace are like fear. Favor is in a higher place, and disgrace in a lower place. When you win them you are like being in fear, and when you lose them you are also like being in fear. So favor and disgrace are like fear.
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Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy.
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To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.
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We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move. We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable. We work with being, but non-being is what we use.
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Nature doesn't make long speeches.
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The great Way is all-pervading. It reaches to the left and to the right. All things depend on it with their existence. Still it demands no obedience.
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He who knows others is clever; He who knows himself has discernment.
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When the Way is lost there is virtue. When virtue is lost there is benevolence. When benevolence is lost there is righteousness. When righteousness is lost there are rituals.
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Rule a kingdom as though you were cooking a small fish - don't overdo it.
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Searching for precious goods leads astray.
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Force is followed by loss of strength. This is not the way of the Tao. That which goes against the Tao comes to an early end.
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The further one goes, the less (he realizes he) one knows.
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He who has no faith in others shall find no faith in them.
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Profound virtue is indeed deep and wide. It leads all things back to the great order.
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The well-run group is not a battlefield of egos.
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Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful. Everyone knows this, but no one can do it.
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The sage acts without taking credit. He accomplishes without dwelling on it. He does not want to display his worth.
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In the Golden Age, Rulers were unknown. In the following age Rulers were loved and praised. Next came the age When rulers were feared. Finally the age When rulers are hated.
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Perfection is the willingness to be imperfect.
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Treat those who are good with goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained. Be honest to those who are honest, and be also honest to those who are not honest. Thus honesty is attained.
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If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve.
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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.