When bitter enemies make peace, surely some bitterness remains.

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes.

We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move.

I have three treasures which I hold and keep. The first is mercy; the second is economy. The third is daring not to be ahead of others. From mercy comes courage; from economy comes generosity; From humility comes leadership.

Tao is beyond words and beyond understanding. Words may be used to speak of it, but they cannot contain it. Tao existed before words and names, before heaven and earth, before the ten thousand things. It is the unlimited father and mother of all limited things. Therefore, to see beyond boundaries to the subtle heart of things, dispense with names, with concepts, with expectations and ambitions and differences. Tao and its many manifestations arise from the same source: subtle wonder within mysterious darkness. This is the beginning of all understanding.

Perfect kindness acts without thinking of kindness.