Excellent conquerors do not engage.

Yet mystery and imagination arise from the same source. This source is called darkness ... Darkness within darkness, the gateway to all understanding.

When the palace is magnificent, the fields are filled with weeds, and the granaries are empty.

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

He who steals a hook shall be hanged; while he who steals the state shall be crowned as prince.

The Tao is always at ease. It overcomes without competing, answers without speaking a word, arrives without being summoned, accomplishes without a plan. Its net covers the whole universe. And though its meshes are wide, it doesn't let a thing slip through.

When people do not dread authorities, then a greater dread descends.