Laozi Quotes

The unyielding army will not win.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

The usefulness of a pot comes from its emptiness.

Knowing others is to be clever. Knowing yourself is to be enlightened. Overcoming others requires force. Overcoming yourself requires strength.

If people do not revere the Law of Nature It will adversely affect them. If they accept It with knowledge and reverence, It will accommodate them with balance and harmony.

Knowledge of the eternal is all-embracing. To be all-embracing leads to righteousness, which is majestic.

The most difficult in the world must be easy in its beginning.

Let the country be small, and the inhabitants few.

He who acts, spoils; he who grasps, lets slip.

He who possess virtue in abundance may be compared to an infant.

Without going out-of-doors, one can know all he needs to know. Without even looking out of his window, one can grasp the nature of everything. Without going beyond his own nature, one can achieve ultimate wisdom. Therefore, the intelligent man knows all he needs to know without going away, And sees all he needs to see without looking elsewhere, And does all he needs to do wihout undue exertion.

To have little is to possess.

Why is the tao so valuable? Because it is everywhere, and everyone can use it. This is why those who seek will find, And those who reform will be forgiven; Why the good will be rewarded, And the thief who is cunning will escape.

The sage acts by doing nothing.

Pride attaches undue importance to the superiority of one's status in the eyes of others; and shame is fear of humiliation at one's inferior status in the estimation of others. When one sets one's heart on being highly esteemed, and achieves such rating, then he or she is automatically involved in fear of losing status.

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.

He who knows others is clever; He who knows himself has discernment.

Weapons are ominous tools. They are not the noble ruler's tools. He only uses them when he can't avoid it.

The universe is deathless; Is deathless because, having no finite self, it stays infinite. A sound man by not advancing himself stays the further ahead of himself, By not confining himself to himself sustains himself outside himself: By never being an end in himself he endlessly becomes himself.

When you are one with loss, the loss is experienced willingly.

Those who stand on their toes are not steady.

I have the mind of a fool, understanding nothing.

There was something formless and perfect before the universe was born. It is serene. Empty. Solitary. Unchanging. Infinite. Eternally present. It is the mother of the universe. For lack of a better name, I call it the Tao. It flows through all things, inside and outside, and returns to the origin of all things. 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.

To be constantly without desire is the way to have a vision of the mystery of heaven and earth. For constantly to have desire is the means by which their limitations are seen.

When taxes are too high, people go hungry.

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

A man's excellence is like that of water; It benefits all things without striving; It takes to the low places shunned by men. Water is akin to Tao. . . . In all the earth nothing weaker than water, Yet in attacking the hard, nothing superior, Nothing so certain in wearing down strength: There is no way to resist it. Note then: The weak conquer the strong, The yielding outlast the aggressors.

The softest in the world surpasses the hardest in the world.

The slaying of multitudes should be mourned with sorrow. A victory should be celebrated with the funeral rite.

The real is empty and the empty real

Racing and hunting excite man's heart to madness.

The most eloquent seems to stutter.

For one gains by losing And loses by gaining.

The world may be known Without leaving the house.

Heavy is the root of light.

Dignified, like a guest.

Though (the Tao) is uncreated itself, it creates all things. Because it has no substance, it can enter into where there is no space. Exercising by returning to itself, winning victories by remaining gentle and yielding, it is softer than anything, and therefore overcomes everything hard.

The Tao is unpredictable to those that live according to plans. Only those who have no agenda are in harmony with the Tao.

By not claiming to be first in the world one can rule.

The sage desires no desire, does not value rare treasures, learns without learning, recovers what people have left behind.

Use your own light and return to the source of light. This is called practicing eternity.

Give up your relentless moralizing, the continual pinpricks which pierce the skin of your fellows. The distinction between good and evil is the sickness of the mind. Give up your morals, and the people will regain a love of their fellows.

There is no need to run outside for better seeing... Rather abide at the center of your being; For the more you leave it the less you learn. Search your heart and see... The way to do is to be.

On the one hand, loss implies gain; on the other hand, gain implies loss.

Empty your mind of all thoughts.

Wary, as if surrounded by strangers.

The wise does not think that only he is right -thus he knows the truth.

The sturdiest virtue seems fragile.