Laozi Quotes

When wisdom and knowledge appear, great pretense arises.

To realize that our knowledge is ignorance, This is a noble insight. To regard our ignorance as knowledge, This is mental sickness. Only when we are sick of the sickness Shall we cease to be sick. The Sage is not sick, being sick of sickness; This is the secret of health.

He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know.

A multitude of words is tiresome, unlike remaining centered.

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

To practice virtue is to selflessly offer assistance to others, giving without limitation one's time, abilities, and possessions in service, whenever and wherever needed, without prejudice concerning the identity of those in need.

He who has little will receive. He who has much will be embarrassed.

Abandon knowledge and your worries are over.

Can you love or guide someone without any kind of expectation?

The sage does not attempt anything very big, and thus achieves greatness.

The great Way is easy, yet people prefer the side paths. Be aware when things are out of balance. Stay centered within the Tao.

The True Person benefits yet expects no reward, does the work and moves on. There is no desire to be considered better than others.

People in their handlings of affairs often fail when they are about to succeed. If one remains as careful at the end as he was at the beginning, there will be no failure.

When good thing are accomplished, it does not claim (or name) them. This is Te, which is close in meaning to power or virtue. It is something within a person, and it is enhanced by following the Tao, or 'that from which nothing can deviate'.

Lay plans for the accomplishment of the difficult before it becomes difficult; make something big by starting with it when small.

He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.

Of all things, none does not revere the Way and honor virtue. Reverence of the Way and honoring virtue were not demanded of them, but it is in their nature.

He who knows enough is enough will always have enough.

Other people have more than they need, I alone seem wanting.

Clay is used to make vases, but it is the emptiness they contain that makes them useful.

If good happens, good; if bad happens, good.

Everything in the universe is created from something, which in turn is created from nothing.

To know you have enough is to be rich.

The Eternal generates the One. The One generates the Two. The Two generates the Three. The Three generates all things.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

The gentlest thing in the world overcomes the hardest thing in the world. That which has no substance enters where there is no space. This shows the value of non-action. Teaching without words, performing without actions: that is the Master's way.

Do nondoing, strive for nonstriving, savor the flavorless, regard the small as important, make much of little, repay enmity with virtue; plan for difficulty when it is still easy, do the great while it is still small. The most difficult things in the world must be done while they are easy; the greatest things in the world must be done while they are small.

I let go of all desire for the common good, and the good becomes as common as the grass.

To bear the country's disgrace is to rule the shrines of soil and grain. To bear the country's misfortunes is to be the king of the world.

If you want to be given everything, give everything up.

If you have really attained wholeness, everything will flock to you.

Heaven's Way is like stretching a bow. The high is lowered and the low is raised. Excess is reduced and deficiency is replenished. Heaven's Way reduces excess and replenishes deficiency. People's Way is not so. They reduce the deficient and supply the excessive.

When the ancient Masters said, "If you want to be given everything, give everything up," they weren't using empty phrases. Only in being lived by the Tao can you be truly yourself.

Wise men hear and see as little children do.

The hard and stiff are death's companions. The soft and weak are life's companions.

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. Thus the Master is available to all people and doesn't reject anyone. He is ready to use all situations and doesn't waste anything. This is called embodying the light. What is a good man but a bad man's teacher? What is a bad man but a good man's job? If you don't understand this, you will get lost, however intelligent you are. It is the great secret.

He who hoards much loses much.

The group will not prosper if the leader grabs the lion's share of the credit for the good work that has been done.

The generals have a saying: "Rather than make the first move it is better to wait and see. Rather than advance an inch it is better to retreat a yard." This is called going forward without advancing, pushing back without using weapons. There is no greater misfortune than underestimating your enemy. Underestimating your enemy means thinking that he is evil. Thus you destroy your three treasures and become an enemy yourself. When two great forces oppose each other, the victory will go to the one that knows how to yield.

When the world is ruled according to the Way, the ghosts lose their power. The ghosts do not really lose their power, but it is not used to harm people.

If you worry more for others' beliefs, then you will be their slave.

Those who do not trust enough should not be trusted.

The Tao which you know is not the eternal Tao

When bitter enemies make peace, surely some bitterness remains.

He who prides himself upon wealth and honor hastens his own downfall.

Time is a created thing. To say 'I don't have time' is to say 'I don't want to.'

Movement overcomes cold.

Those who boast are not respected.