"When the Way is lost there is..." - Quote by Lao Tzu
When the Way is lost there is virtue. When virtue is lost there is benevolence. When benevolence is lost there is righteousness. When righteousness is lost there are rituals.
More by Lao Tzu
“He who regards many things easy will find many difficulties. Therefore the sage regards things difficult, and consequently never has difficulties.”
“Pain and happiness are simply conditions of the ego. Forget the ego.”
“The value of teaching without words and accomplishing without action is understood by few in the world.”
More on Decline
“'Tis thought the king is dead; we will not stay. The bay trees in our country are all wither'd.”
“Like other systems in decay, the Roman Empire continued to function for several generations after its vitality was sapped. For nearly a hundred years our Island was one of the scenes of conflict between a dying civilisation and lusty, famishing barbarism.”
“We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.”
More on Morality
“A healthy-minded boy should feel hearty contempt for the coward and even more hearty indignation for the boy who bullies girls or small boys, or tortures animals.”
“The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life. To make this a living force and bring it to clear consciousness is perhaps the foremost task of education. The foundation of morality should not be made dependent on myth nor tied to any authority lest doubt about the myth or about the legitimacy of the authority imperil the foundation of sound judgment and action.”
“Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or who says it.”