Laozi quotes

Before healing others, heal yourself

There is no illusion great than fear.

Things flourish, then each returns to its root. Returning to the root is called stillness: Stillness is called return to life, return to life is called the constant; knowing the constant is called enlightenment.

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

The more laws that are written, the more criminals are produced.

Accept disgrace willingly... Accept being unimportant... Surrender yourself humbly; then you can be trusted to care for all things. Love the world as your own self; then you can truly care for all things.

The softest of stuff in the world, penetrates quickly the hardest, insubstantial, it enters where there is no room.

Success is as dangerous as failure. Hope is as hollow as fear.

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench. Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.

What resists, persists.

Time is a created thing. To say 'I don't have time' is to say 'I don't want to.'

Health is the greatest possession. Contentment is the greatest treasure. Confidence is the greatest friend. Non-being is the greatest joy.

You will understand a great truth when you get to realize that what you do to others, you are doing to yourself.

He who knows himself is enlightened.

In the end, The treasure of life is missed by those who hold on and gained by those who let go

The wise man doesn't compete; therefore nobody can compete with him.

Stop leaving and you will arrive, Stop searching and you will see, Stop running away and you will be found.

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

True words are not pleasing. Pleasing words are not true.

How do I become still? By flowing with the stream.

Make your heart like a lake, with calm, still surface, and great depths of kindness.

The best of all teachers is the one who helps people so that eventually they don't need him.

Hold on to the center and make up your mind to rejoice in this paradise called life.

The best leaders are those their people hardly know exist. The next best is a leader who is loved and praised. Next comes the one who is feared. The worst one is the leader that is despised ... The best leaders value their words, and use them sparingly. When they have accomplished their task, the people say, "Amazing! We did it, all by ourselves!

How can one liberate the many? By first liberating his own being. He does this not by elevating himself, but by lowering himself. He lowers himself to that which is simple, modest, true; integrating it into himself, he becomes a master of simplicity, modesty, truth.

Goodness in words creates trust, goodness in thinking creates depth, goodness in giving creates love.

Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.

When you accept yourself, the Universe accepts you.

People in their handlings of affairs often fail when they are about to succeed. If one remains as careful at the end as he was at the beginning, there will be no failure.

Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.

Perfection is the willingness to be imperfect.

If a person seems wicked, do not cast him away. Awaken him with your words, elevate him with your deeds, repay his injury with your kindness. Do not cast him away; cast away his wickedness.

Face the simple fact before it comes involved. Solve the small problem before it becomes big.

Success is as dangerous as failure. Hope is as hollow as fear. What does it mean that success is a dangerous as failure? Whether you go up the ladder or down it, you position is shaky. When you stand with your two feet on the ground, you will always keep your balance. What does it mean that hope is as hollow as fear? Hope and fear are both phantoms that arise from thinking of the self. When we don't see the self as self, what do we have to fear? See the world as your self. Have faith in the way things are. Love the world as your self; then you can care for all things.

Those who know do not talk. Those who talk do not know.

I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.

To be learned, add something each day. To be enlightened drop something each day.

If the majority doesn't laugh at you, beware that you must be saying something wrong. When the majority thinks you are a fool, only then is there some possibility of you being a wise man.

Wise men hear and see as little children do.

Rule your mind with serenity rather than with force and manipulation.

Act without expectation.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

The past has no power to stop you from being present now. Only your grievance about the past can do that. What is grievance? The baggage of old thought and emotion.

The wise man, after learning something new, is afraid to learn anything more until he has put his first lesson into practice.

Stop thinking, and end your problems.

Develop the strength of a man, but live as gently as a woman

At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.

Be empty. Be still. Just watch everything come and go. This is the way of Nature.

The world is ruled by letting things take their course. It cannot be ruled by interfering.

Those who understand others are clever, those who understand themselves are wise.

Knowing that you do not know is the best. Not knowing that you do not know is an illness.

Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habit.

The biggest in the world is small in its beginning.

Excellent warriors are not violent.

The greatest revelation is stillness.

If you understand others you are smart. If you understand yourself you are illuminated. If you overcome others you are powerful. If you overcome yourself you have strength. If you know how to be satisfied you are rich. If you can act with vigor, you have a will. If you don't lose your objectives you can be long-lasting. If you die without loss, you are eternal.

Water is the softest thing, yet it can penetrate mountains and earth. This shows clearly the principle of softness overcoming hardness.

Only fools seek power, and the greatest fools seek it through force.

You cannot receive what you don't give. Outflow determines inflow.

Deal with difficult tasks while they are easy. Act on large issues while they are small.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

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.

Life is going forth; death is returning home.

A good person is the bad person's teacher. A bad person is the good person's task.

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

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

We are all capable of much more than we think we are.

True words aren't eloquent; eloquent words aren't true. Wise men don't need to prove their point; men who need to prove their point aren't wise. The Master has no possessions. The more he does for others, the happier he is. The more he gives to others, the wealthier he is. The Tao nourishes by not forcing. By not dominating, the Master leads.

If you correct your mind the rest of your life will fall into place.

Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.

Simply see that you are at the center of the universe, and accept all things and beings as parts of your infinite body. When you perceive that an act done to another is done to yourself, you have understood the great truth.

See simplicity in the complicated. Achieve greatness in little things

If you never assume importance, you never lose it.

For knowledge, add something every day. For wisdom....subtract.

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

New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.

Freedom from desire leads to inner peace.

A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind. Thus by nature's own decree, the soft and gentle are triumphant.

If you tell me, I will listen. If you show me, I will see. If you let me experience, I will learn!

Fame or integrity: which is more important? Money or happiness: which is more valuable? Success or failure: which is more destructive? If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never truly be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.

If you are at peace, you are living in the present.

When goodness is lost, it is replaced by morality.

Peacefulness is an inner sense of calm - it comes from becoming still - in order to reflect and meditate on our inner wisdom and receive answers. A peaceful heart is one that is free from worry and rouble. It's becoming quiet so we can look at things quietly so we can more clearly understand them and thus come up with creative solutions. It is learning to live in the present. Freedom from desire leads to inner peace.

When the student is ready the teacher will appear.

Chanting is no more holy than listening to the murmur of a stream, counting prayer beads no more sacred than simply breathing. . . . If you wish to attain oneness with the Tao, don't get caught up in spiritual superficialities.

Speaking with kindness creates confidence, thinking with kindness creates profoundness, giving with kindness creates love.

Have patience. Wait until the mud settles and the water is clear. Remain unmoving until right action arises by itself.

Some lose yet gain, others gain and yet lose

Kind words elicit trust. Kind thoughts create depth. Kind deeds bring love.

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

Throw away profit and greed, and there won't be any thieves.

If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself, if you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.

Those who take long steps cannot keep the pace.

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.

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

Keep your mouth shut, and close up the doors of sight and sound, and as long as you live you will have no vexation. But open your mouth, or become inquisitive, and you will be in trouble all your life long.

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

The wise stand out because they see themselves as part of the Whole. They shine because they don't want to impress. They achieve great things because they don't look for recognition. Their wisdom is contained in what they are, not their opinions. They refuse to argue, so no-one argues with them.

The usefulness of the pot lies in its emptiness.

Because one believes in oneself, one doesn't try to convince. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn't need others' approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.

The truth is not always beautiful, nor beautiful words the truth.

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

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.

One who believes in himself has no need to convince others.

Nothing and no one in the world is valuable or worthless.

Let your workings remain a mystery. Just show people the results.

In work, do what you enjoy.

Don't think you can attain total awareness and whole enlightenment without proper discipline and practice. This is egomania. Appropriate rituals channel your emotions and life energy toward the light. Without the discipline to practice them, you will tumble constantly backward into darkness.

If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.

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

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.

Be still. Stillness reveals the secrets of eternity

Quiet your mind and stop judging and resisting and manipulating the natural way.

Hold on to the ancient Way to master the present, and to learn the distant beginning.

There is no greater offence than harbouring desires. There is no greater disaster than discontent. There is no greater misfortune than wanting more.

To know and not to do is not yet to know.

If there is to be peace in the world, There must be peace in the nations. If there is to be peace in the nations, There must be peace in the cities. If there is to be peace in the cities, There must be peace between neighbors. If there is to be peace between neighbors, There must be peace in the home. If there is to be peace in the home, There must be peace in the heart.

The real key to health and happiness and success is self knowledge

Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.

Your own positive future begins in this moment. All you have is right now. Every goal is possible from here.

No weapon is sharper than will.

In order to eliminate the negative influences, simply ignore them.

People aren't against you; they are for themselves. The most dangerous risk of all - the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later. He who conquers others is strong, he who conquers himself is mighty.

To know that you do not know is the best. To pretend to know when you do not know is a disease.