Laozi Quotes

What is a good man? A teacher of a bad man. What is a bad man? A good man's charge?

In lightness the root is lost. In haste the ruler is lost.

Trying to understand is like straining through muddy water. Be still and allow the mud to settle.

The more laws and orders are multiplied, the more theft and violence increase.

Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream.

With virtue and quietness one may conquer the world.

Take care of what is difficult while it is still easy, and deal with what will become big while it is yet small.

The sage attends to the belly, and not to what he sees.

The greatest revelation is stillness.

Fine words are traded. Noble deeds gain respect. But people who are not good, why abandon them?

Understanding others is knowledge, Understanding oneself is enlightenment; Conquering others is power, Conquering oneself is strength.

A climb of eight hundred feet starts where the foot stands.

Gain or loss, what is worse?

Sometimes gain comes from losing, and sometimes loss comes from gaining.

In the Universe the difficult things are done as if they were easy.

Always without desire we must be found, If its deep mystery we would sound; But if desire always within us be, Its outer fringe is all that we shall see.

What is well planted will not be uprooted.

The mystical techniques for achieving immortality are revealed only to those who have dissolved all ties to the gross worldly realm of duality, conflict, and dogma. As long as your shallow worldly ambitions exist, the door will not open.

Pounding an edge to sharpness will not make it last.

The leader is best, When people are hardly aware of his existence, Not so good when people praise his government, Less good when people stand in fear, Worst, when people are contemptuous. Fail to honor people, and they will fail to honor you. But of a good leader, who speaks little, When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, The people say, 'We did it ourselves.'

The reality of the building does not consist in the roof and walls, but in the space within to be lived in.

Superior leaders get things done with very little motion. They impart instruction not through many words, but through a few deeds. They keep informed about everything but interfere hardly at all. They are catalysts, and though things would not get done as well if they were not there, when they succeed they take no credit. And, because they take no credit, credit never leaves them.

Only he who does not seek to be ahead of others is capable of living in harmony with everyone.

There are three layers to the universe. In the lower, Tai Ching, and the middle, Shan Ching, the hindrance of a physical bodily existence is required. Those who fail to live consistently in accord with the Tao reside here. In the upper, Yu Ching, there is only Tao: the bondage of form is broken, and the only thing existing is the exquisite energy dance of the immortal divine beings.

Knowing the future is the flower of the Way, and the beginning of folly.

Weapons are instruments of fear; they are not a wise man's tools. He uses them only when he has no choice.

When people do not dread authorities, then a greater dread descends.

Be content with an ordinary life.

There was something that finished chaos, born before Heaven and Earth.

Men are born soft and supple; dead, they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry. Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death. Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life. The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail.

A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step - Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others.

The well-run group is not a battlefield of egos.

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

The Way is ever without action, yet nothing is left undone.

He who accounts all things easy will have many difficulties.

There is no greater fault than sensual indulgence. There is no greater misfortune than malcontent. There is no greater calamity than greed.

Pain and happiness are simply conditions of the ego. Forget the ego.

When everyone sees good, then bad exists.

When taxes are too high, people go hungry. When the government is too intrusive, people lose their spirit. Act for the people's benefit. Trust them; leave them alone.

Searching for precious goods leads astray.

Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish. Do not overdo it.

I observe myself and I come to know others.

The more prohibitions there are, the poorer the people will be. The more laws are promulgated, the more thieves and bandits there will be.

The real art of governing consists, so far as possible, in doing nothing.

The light of the Way seems dim.

Clay is fashioned into vessels; it is on their empty hollowness that their use depends. Doors and windows are cut out to make a dwelling, and on the empty space within, its use depends. Thus, while the existence of things may be good, it is the non-existence in them that makes them serviceable.

The words of truth are always paradoxical.

There are many paths to enlightenment. Be sure to take the one with a heart.