Lao Tzu Quotes

“The purest white seems stained.”

“The soft and weak can overcome the hard and strong.”

“Empty your mind of all thoughts.”

“Marriage is three parts love and seven parts forgiveness of sins.”

“Under heaven all can see beauty as beauty only because there is ugliness. All can know good as good only because there is evil. Therefore having and not having arise together. Difficult and easy complement each other. Long and short contrast each other. High and low rest upon each other. Voice and sound harmonize each other. Front and back follow one another.”

“Conduct your triumph as a funeral.”

“If there is to be peace in the home, There must be peace in the heart.”

“What is and what is not create each other.”

“Man, when living, is soft and tender; when dead, he is hard and tough. All animals and plants when living are tender and delicate; when dead they become withered and dry. Therefore it is said: the hard and tough are parts of death; the soft and tender are parts of life.”

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

“Mask your brightness. Be at one with the dust of the earth. This is primal union.”

“The perfect square lacks corners.”

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

“The further one goes, the less (he realizes he) one knows.”

“Movement overcomes cold.”

“It is better not to make merit a matter of reward Lest people conspire and contend.”

“The sage acts by doing nothing.”

“The skillful traveller leaves no traces of his wheels.”

“A good manager is best when people barely know that he exists. Not so good when people obey and acclaim him. Worse when they despise him.”

“Let people return to making knots on ropes, instead of writing.”

“If you search everywhere, yet cannot find what you are seeking, it is because what you seek is already in your possession.”

“Battles are followed by years of famine.”

“When the best leader's work is done the people say, 'We did it ourselves.'”

“The Master's power is like this. He lets all things come and go effortlessly, without desire. He never expects results; thus he is never disappointed. He is never disappointed; thus his spirit never grows old.”

“The Master gives himself up to whatever the moment brings. He knows that he is going to die, and her has nothing left to hold on to: no illusions in his mind, no resistances in his body. He doesn't think about his actions; they flow from the core of his being. He holds nothing back from life; therefore he is ready for death, as a man is ready for sleep after a good day's work.”