Seal the openings, shut the doors, dull the sharpness, untie the knots, dim the light, become one with the dust. This is called the profound union.

The truly great man dwells on what is real and not what is on the surface.

He who, conscious of being strong, is content to be weak, he shall be the paragon of mankind. Being the paragon of mankind, Virtue will never desert him. He returns to the state of a little child.

To have little is to possess.

Tao in the world is like a river flowing home to the sea.

A tree as wide as a man's embrace grows from a tiny shoot.

Every human being's essential nature is perfect and faultless, but after years of immersion in the world we easily forget our roots and take on a counterfeit nature.