Lao Tzu Quotes

210 Sourced Quotes

Why separate your spiritual life and your practical life? To an integral being, there is no such distinction.

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

Lao Tzu
He who has little will receive. He who has much will be embarrassed.

Lao Tzu
If you see what is small as it sees itself, and accept what is weak for what strength it has, and use what is dim for the light it gives then all will go well. This is called Acting Naturally.

Lao Tzu
The sense organs, which are limited in scope and ability, randomly gather information. This partial information is arranged into judgments, which are based on previous judgments, which are usually based on someone else's foolish ideas. These false concepts and ideas are then stored in a highly selective memory system.

Lao Tzu
Those who know do not speak; Those who speak do not know. Stop up the openings, Close down the doors, Rub off the sharp edges. Unravel all confusion. Harmonize the light, Give up contention: This is called finding the unity of life.

Lao Tzu
To consider this desirable would be to delight in the slaughter of men; and he who delights in the slaughter of men cannot get his will in the kingdom.

Lao Tzu
He who regards the world as he does the fortune of his own body can govern the world. He who loves the world as he does his own body can be entrusted with the world.

Lao Tzu
The tree which fills the arms grew from the tiniest sprout...

Lao Tzu
The one who can dissolve her mind will suddenly discover the Tao at her feet...

Lao Tzu
I will be fond of keeping still, and the people will of themselves become correct.

Lao Tzu
Something mysteriously formed, Born before heaven and earth. In the silence and the void, Standing alone and unchanging, Ever present and in motion.

Lao Tzu
When the intelligent and animal souls are held together in one embrace, they can be kept from separating.

Lao Tzu
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.

Lao Tzu
Knowing ignorance is strength; ignoring knowledge is sickness.

Lao Tzu
Know the white, But keep the black, Be an example to the world! Being an example to the world, Ever true and unwavering, Return to the infinite.

Lao Tzu
Too much success is not an advantage.
Do not tinkle like jade
Or clatter like stone chimes.

Lao Tzu
When the worst student hears about the Way, he laughs out loud. If he did not laugh, it would be unworthy of being the Way.

Lao Tzu
Know honor, Yet keep humility. Be the valley of the universe! Being the valley of the universe, Ever true and resourceful, Return to the state of the uncarved block.

Lao Tzu
He who defends with love will be secure; Heaven will save him, and protect him with love.

Lao Tzu
The Tao gives birth to One. One gives birth to yin and yang. Yin and yang give birth to all things... The complete whole is the complete whole. So also is any part the complete whole... But forget about understanding and harmonizing and making all things one. The universe is already a harmonious oneness; just realize it.

Lao Tzu
Going back to the origin is called peace; it means reversion to destiny. Reversion to destiny is called eternity. Those who know eternity are called enlightened.

Lao Tzu
Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature. The way of nature is unchanging. Knowing constancy is insight.

Lao Tzu
Creating without claiming, Doing without taking credit, Guiding without interfering, This is Primal Virtue.

Lao Tzu
The mature person perceives the fruitlessness of rigid, external methodologies.

Lao Tzu
Conquering others takes force, conquering yourself is true strength.

Lao Tzu
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.

Lao Tzu
He who stands on tiptoe is not steady. He who strides cannot maintain the pace. He who makes a show is not enlightened. He who is self-righteous is not respected. He who boasts achieves nothing. He who brags will not endure. According to followers of the Tao, "These are extra food and unnecessary luggage." They do not bring happiness, therefore followers of the Tao avoid them.

Lao Tzu
My own words are not the medicine, but a prescription; not the destination, but a map to help you reach it. When you get there, quiet your mind and close your mouth. Don't analyze the Tao. Strive instead to live it: silently, undividedly, with your whole harmonious being.

Lao Tzu
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.

Lao Tzu