Whatever one cultivates, is what one becomes.

Be truly whole, and all things will return to you.

When merit has been achieved, do not take it to yourself; for if you do not take it to yourself, it shall never be taken from you.

Solve it before it happens. Order it before chaos emerges.

Good leaders reach solutions, and then stop. They do not dare to rely on force.

She who is centered in the Tao can go where she wishes, without danger. She perceives the universal harmony, even amid great pain, because she has found peace in her heart. Music or the smell of good cooking may make people stop and enjoy. But words that point to the Tao seem monotonous and without flavor. When you look for it, there is nothing to see. When you listen for it, there is nothing to hear. When you use it, it is inexhaustible.

Man at his birth is supple and tender, but in death, he is rigid and hard. Thus, suppleness and tenderness accompany life, but rigidity and hardness accompany death.