Laozi Quotes

In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it.

Why not simply honor your parents, love your children, help your brothers and sisters, be faithful to your friends, care for your mate with devotion, complete your work cooperatively and joyfully, assume responsibility for problems, practice virtue without first demanding it of others, understand the highest truths yet retain an ordinary manner? That would be true clarity, true simplicity, true mastery.

The noble must make humility his root.

The female always surpasses the male with stillness. In her stillness she is yielding.

I have no desire to desire, and people become like the uncarved wood by themselves.

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.

Stretch the bow to the very full, and you will wish you had stopped in time.

He who does not trust enough will not be trusted.

Because clarity and enlightenment are within your own nature, they are regained without moving an inch.

Can you comprehend everything in the four directions and still do nothing?

Man is ruled by Earth. Earth is ruled by Heaven. Heaven is ruled by the Way. The Way is ruled by itself.

People are hard to govern. The rulers interfere with too much. That is why people are hard to govern.

See simplicity in the complicated. Achieve greatness in little things

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

If you want everything, you first have to give everything up.

Approach your own inner life with a loving quality that accepts who you are without trying to change who you are.

When superior people hear of the Way, they carry it out with diligence. When middling people hear of the Way, it sometimes seems to be there, sometimes not. When lesser people hear of the Way, they ridicule it greatly. If they didn't laugh at it, it wouldn't be the Way.

Whatever is flexible and living will tend to grow; whatever is rigid and blocked will wither and die.

Those who are unswerving have resolve

Success is as dangerous as failure. Hope is as hollow as fear.

If the sage wants to stand above people, he must speak to them from below. If he wants to lead people, he must follow them from behind.

Know honor, Yet keep humility. Be the valley of the universe! Being the valley of the universe, Ever true and resourceful, Return to the state of the uncarved block.

One who believes in himself has no need to convince others.

Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habit.

A good speaker does not stutter.

The wise stand out because they see themselves as part of the Whole. They shine because they don't want to impress. They achieve great things because they don't look for recognition. Their wisdom is contained in what they are, not their opinions. They refuse to argue, so no-one argues with them.

Accomplish but do not boast, accomplish without show, accomplish without arrogance, accomplish without grabbing, accomplish without forcing.

If people live in constant fear of death, and if breaking the law is punished by death, then who would dare?

The leader is a teacher who succeeds without taking credit. And, because credit is not taken, credit is received.

To know one's ignorance is the best part of knowledge.

The river and the sea can be kings of a hundred valleys, because they lie below them.

Be empty. Be still. Just watch everything come and go. This is the way of Nature.

A great country needs more people to serve it. A small country needs more people to serve. So, if both shall get what they need, the great country ought to yield.

The master understands that the universe is forever out of control

The superior leader keeps informed about everything but interferes hardly at all.

The sage governs by emptying senses and filling bellies.

Let people take death seriously, and not travel far.

The Tao is great. The universe is great. Earth is great. Man is great. These are the four great powers. Man follows the earth. Earth follows the universe. The universe follows the Tao. The Tao follows only itself.

Embrace simplicity. Put others first. Desire little.

The biggest in the world is small in its beginning.

There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.

Good words shall gain you honor in the marketplace, but good deeds shall gain you friends among men.

The first practice is the practice of undiscriminating virtue: take care of those who are deserving; also, and equally, take care of those who are not. When you extend your virtue in all directions without discriminating, you feet are firmly planted on the path that returns to the Tao.

Why did the ancients praise the Way? Did they not say it was because you find what you seek and are saved from your wrongdoings?

Practice not-doing and everything will fall into place.

Goodness in words creates trust, goodness in thinking creates depth, goodness in giving creates love.

What makes a kingdom great is its being like a down-flowing river,--the central point towards which all the smaller streams under Heaven converge; or like the female throughout the world, who by quiescence always overcomes the male. And quiescence is a form of humility.

The fish cannot leave the deep waters. The state's weaponry should not be displayed.