Lao Tzu Quotes

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

The power of intuitive understanding will protect you from harm until the end of your days.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Watch your step.

To lead the people walk behind them.

If you try to change it, you will ruin it. Try to hold it, and you will lose it.

The past has no power to stop youfrom being present now.Only your grievance aboutthe past can do that.What is grievance?The baggage of oldthought and emotion.

To lead people, you must follow behind.

Simplicity, patience, compassion.These three are your greatest treasures.Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.Patient with both friends and enemies,you accord with the way things are.Compassionate toward yourself,you reconcile all beings in the world.

Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.

As soon as you have made a thought, laugh at it.

(So), he who displays himself does not shine; he who asserts his own views is not distinguished; he who vaunts himself does not find his merit acknowledged; he who is self-conceited has no superiority allowed to him.

I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.

If you don’t stand sincere by your wordshow sincere can the people be?Take great care over words, treasure them.1.17

When people see some things as beautiful,other things become ugly.When people see some things as good,other things become bad.

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 beginning of heaven and earth. The named is the mother of ten thousand things. Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations. These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gate to all mystery.

There is no illusion greater than fear.

Revere the unity of all-that-iscarry out your daily activities with compassion;if you do not limit your compassion,you yourself will not be limited.

Lao Tzu "The key to growth is the introductionof higher dimensions of consciousnessinto our awareness.

Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.

Trying to understand is like straining through muddy water. Have the patience to wait! Be still and allow the mud to settle.

Heaven’s Tao is impartial,yet those who follow its compassionate waywill always be nourished

Simplicity, patience, compassion.These three are your greatest treasures.Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.Patient with both friends and enemies,you accord with the way things are.Compassionate toward yourself,you reconcile all beings in the world."…"There is no greater misfortunethan underestimating your enemy.Underestimating your enemymeans thinking that he is evil.Thus you destroy your three treasuresand become an enemy yourself.When two great forces oppose each other,the victory will goto the one that knows how to yield.

A good traveler leaves no tracks. Good speech lacks fault-finding.

A man who knows how little he knows is well, a man who knows how much he knows is sick. If, when you see the symptoms, you can tell, Your cure is quick.A sound man knows that sickness makes him sick and before he catches it his cure is quick.

...the mind is just as immeasurable as the vast universe. An integral being settles his mind just as the vast universe settles itself. He unites his mind with the unnameable Subtle Origin of the multi-universe in which there is no past, present or future. This is how an integral being deals with his mind.

If the people never fear death,what is the purpose of threatening to kill them?If the people ever fear death,and I were to capture and kill those who are devious,who would dare to be so?If the people must be ever fearful of death,then there will always be an executioner.Now,To kill in place of the executionerIs likeHewing wood in place of the master carpenter;Few indeed will escape cutting their own hands!

Any good person who is motivated to attain awareness of the whole truth should follow the Universal Way to calm his mind and harmonize it with all aspects of life.

I do not concern myself with gods and spirits either good or evil nor do I serve any.

He who is contented is rich.

A terrace nine stories high begins with a pile of earth.

Great acts are made up of small deeds.

No one can insult me, because I do not want respect.No one can defeat me, because I have given up the idea of winning.How can you defeat me? You can only defeat someone who wants to win.

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 insidethat holds whatever we want.We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner spacethat makes it livable.We work with being, but non-being is what we use.

To speak little is natural. Therefore a gale does not blow a whole morning nor does a downpour last a whole day.

In the end,The treasure of life is missed by those who hold on and gained by those who let go.

Heaven's net is wide, but its mesh is fine

Thirty spokesShare one hub.Make the nothing therein appropriate, and you will have the use of the cart.

The difficult problems in life always start off being simple. Great affairs always start off being small.

So the unwanting soulsees what's hidden,and the ever-wanting soulsees only what it wants.

Existence is beyond the power of wordsTo define:Terms may be usedBut are none of them absolute.In the beginning of heaven and earth there were no words,Words came out of the womb of matter;And whether a man dispassionatelySees to the core of lifeOr passionatelySees the surface,The core and the surfaceAre essentially the same,Words making them seem differentOnly to express appearance.If name be needed, wonder names them both:From wonder into wonderExistence opens.

Klar sieht, wer von ferne sieht, nebelhaft, wer Anteil nimmt.

As for the best leaders the people do not notice their existence. The next best the people honour and praise. The next the people fear and the next the people hate. When the best leader's work is done the people say 'we did it ourselves!'

Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.

Time is a created thing. To say 'I don't have time,' is like saying, 'I don't want to.

As the soft yield of water cleaves obstinate stone So to yield with life solves the insolvable: To yield I have learned is to come back again.

Because of a great love, one is courageous.

The Master doesn't try to be powerful;thus he is truly powerful.The ordinary man keeps reaching for power;thus he never has enough.The Master does nothing,yet he leaves nothing undone.The ordinary man is always ding things,yet many more are left to be done.[…]Therefore the Master concerns himselfWith the depths and not the surface,With the fruit and not the flower.[…]Teaching without words,Performing without actions:That is the Master’s way.[…]The Master arrives without leaving,Sees the light without looking,Achieves without doing a thing.[…]The Master is above the people,And no one feels oppressed.She goes ahead of the people,And no feels manipulated.The whole world is grateful to her.Because she completes with no one,No one can complete with her.

Silence is a source of Great Strength.

Having given all he had He then is very rich indeed.

Knowing others is Wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment

When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everyone will respect you.

Knowledge is a treasure, but practice is the key to it.

Тhe gentle overcomes the rigid.The slow overcomes the fast.The weak overcomes the strong."…"Everyone knows that the yielding overcomes the stiff,and the soft overcomes the hard.Yet no one applies this knowledge.

As to the roaming of sages,They move in utter emptiness,Let their minds meander in the great nothingness;They run beyond conventionAnd go through where there is no gateway.They listen to the soundlessAnd look at the formless,They are not constrained by societyAnd not bound to its customs.- Lao-tzu

He who conquers others is strong he who conquers himself is mighty.

If you wish to be out front, then act as if you were behind.

One gains by losing and loses by gaining.

The Master, by residing in the Tao,sets an example for all beings.Because he doesn't display himself,people can see his light.Because he has nothing to prove,people can trust his

Failure is an opportunity.If you blame someone else,there is no end to the blame.Therefore the Masterfulfills her own obligationsand corrects her own mistakes.She does what she needs to doand demands nothing of others.

The Way to do is to be.