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.

Virtue in its grandest aspect is neither more nor less than following reason.

The net of heaven is very wide in its meshes, and yet it misses nothing.

The small is easy to scatter.

A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. A good artist lets his intuition lead him wherever it wants. A good scientist has freed himself of concepts and keeps his mind open to what is.

The sage attends to the belly, and not to what he sees.

In ancient times, those who followed the Way did not try to give people knowledge thereof, but kept them ignorant.