A scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.

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

Weapons are instruments of fear; they are not a wise man's tools. He uses them only when he has no choice.

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.

The forceful and violent will not die from natural causes.

When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad. Being and non-being create each other. Difficult and easy support each other. Long and short define each other. High and low depend on each other. Before and after follow each other. Therefore the Master acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything. Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go. She has but doesn't possess, acts but doesn't expect. When her work is done, she forgets it. That is why it lasts forever.

It is the child that sees the primordial secret in Nature and it is the child of ourselves we return to. The child within us is simple and daring enough to live the Secret.