Non Action Quotes

Without desire there is stillness, and the world settles by itself.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

The highest benevolence acts without purpose.

The Master acts without doing, and everything gets done.

If you practice inaction, nothing will be left undone: For the way to acquire lordship over society is by invariably not interfering.

Do nondoing, strive for non-stiving, savor the flavourless, make much of little, repay enmity with virture; plan for difficulty when it is still easy, do the great while it is still small.

Rushing into action, you fail. Trying to grasp things, you lose them. Forcing a project to completion, you ruin what was almost ripe.

Those who act will fail. Those who seize will lose.

Practice non-action. Work without doing.

By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.

The master accomplishes more and more by doing less and less until finally he accomplishes everything by doing nothing.

Nature does not have to insist.

Can you deal with the most vital matters by letting events take their course? Can you step back from you own mind and thus understand all things? Giving birth and nourishing, having without possessing, acting with no expectations, leading and not trying to control: this is the supreme virtue.

Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory. - Diane Arbus By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.

Excellent conquerors do not engage.

A good athlete can enter a state of body-awareness in which the right stroke or the right movement happens by itself, effortlessly, without any interference of the conscious will. This is a paradigm for non-action: the purest and most effective form of action. The game plays the game; the poem writes the poem; we can't tell the dancer from the dance. It happens when we trust the intelligence of the universe in the same way that an athlete or a dancer trusts the superior intelligence of the body.

If you want to shrink something, you must first allow it to expand. If you want to get rid of something, you must first allow it to flourish. If you want to take something, you must first allow it to be given. This is called the subtler perception of the way things are. The soft overcomes the hard. The slow overcomes the fast. Let your workings remain a mystery. Just show people the results.

Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.

Praise of power leads to weakness; Love of things leads to loss; The wise one leads by filling people's hearts; He destroys illusion and disturbs those who believe they are wise; He does nothing yet everything happens.

Of course, you can’t force your mind to be silent. That would be like trying to smooth ripples in water with a flatiron. Water becomes clear and calm only when left alone.

The value of teaching without words and accomplishing without action is understood by few in the world.

The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world. Through this I know the advantage of taking no action.

I do not act, and people become reformed by themselves.

Use justice to rule a country. Use surprise to wage war. Use non-action to govern the world.

When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.

Stop trying to control. Let go of fixed plans and concepts, and the world will govern itself.

The sage acts by doing nothing.

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

Practice not-doing and everything will fall into place.

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

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.