The biggest in the world is small in its beginning.

The more prohibitions there are, the poorer the people will be. The more laws are promulgated, the more thieves and bandits there will be.

The Tao never acts with force, yet there is nothing that it can not do.

Bend and you will be straight.

Greed for enlightenment and immortality is no different than greed for material wealth. It is self-centered and dualistic, and thus an obstacle to true attainment. Therefore these states are never achieved by those who covet them; rather, they are the reward of the virtuous.

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

To know that you do not know is the best. To pretend to know when you do not know is a disease.