The living are soft and yielding; the dead are rigid and stiff. Living plants are flexible and tender; the dead are brittle and dry.

We are all capable of much more than we think we are.

When everyone sees good, then bad exists.

When the great Tao is abandoned, benevolence and righteousness arise.

The whole world says that my Way is great like nothing else. It is great because it is like nothing else. If it were like everything else, it would long ago have become insignificant.

People in their handlings of affairs often fail when they are about to succeed. If one remains as careful at the end as he was at the beginning, there will be no failure.

The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself.