Lao Tzu Quotes

210 Sourced Quotes

The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world. Non-being penetrates that in which there is no space. Through this I know the advantage of taking no action.

Lao Tzu
Those who know don't talk. Those who talk don't know. Close your mouth, block off your senses, blunt your sharpness, untie your knots, soften your glare, settle your dust. This is the primal identity. Be like the Tao. It can't be approached or withdrawn from, benefited or harmed, honored or brought into disgrace. It gives itself up continually. That is why it endures.

Lao Tzu
Deal with it before it happens. Set things in order before there is confusion.

Lao Tzu
The new life created by the final integration is self-aware yet without ego, capable of inhabiting a body yet not attached to it, and guided by wisdom rather than emotion. Whole and virtuous, it can never die.

Lao Tzu
My words are very easy to understand and very easy to practice. Still, no one in the world can understand or practice them.

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

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

Lao Tzu
Knowing constancy, the mind is open.
With an open mind, you will be openhearted.
Being openhearted you will act royally.
Being royal, you will attain the divine.
Being divine, you will be at one with the Tao.
Being at one with the Tao is eternal.
Though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.

Lao Tzu
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.

Lao Tzu
To know yet to think that one does not know is best;
Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.

Lao Tzu
It is The Vague and Elusive.
Meet it and you will not see its head.
Follow it and you will not see its back.

Lao Tzu
One may know the world without going out of doors. One may see the Way of Heaven without looking through the windows. The further one goes, the less one knows. Therefore the sage knows without going about, Understands without seeing, And accomplishes without any action.

Lao Tzu
I confess that there is nothing to teach: no religion, no science, no writings which will lead your mind back to Spirit. Today I speak this way, tomorrow that, but always the Path is beyond words and beyond mind.

Lao Tzu
He who loves the world as his body may be entrusted with the empire.

Lao Tzu
The female always overcomes the male by tranquillity,
And by tranquillity she is underneath.

Lao Tzu
There are three layers to the universe. In the lower, Tai Ching, and the middle, Shan Ching, the hindrance of a physical bodily existence is required. Those who fail to live consistently in accord with the Tao reside here. In the upper, Yu Ching, there is only Tao: the bondage of form is broken, and the only thing existing is the exquisite energy dance of the immortal divine beings.

Lao Tzu
I call it Tao.
If forced to give it a name, I shall call it Great.
Now being great means functioning everywhere.
Functioning everywhere means far-reaching.
Being far-reaching means returning to the original point.
Therefore Tao is great.

Lao Tzu
Distortion upon distortion:... the more one uses the mind, the more confused one becomes.

Lao Tzu
Carrying body and soul and embracing the one, Can you avoid separation?

Lao Tzu
Learn to value what is important today in the subtle realm rather than what appears desirable tomorrow in the worldly realm.

Lao Tzu
When armies are mobilized and issues joined, The man who is sorry over the fact will win.

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

Lao Tzu
Truthful words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not truthful. Good words are not persuasive; persuasive words are not good.

Lao Tzu
To realize that our knowledge is ignorance, This is a noble insight. To regard our ignorance as knowledge, This is mental sickness. Only when we are sick of the sickness Shall we cease to be sick. The Sage is not sick, being sick of sickness; This is the secret of health.

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

Lao Tzu
Those who are highly evolved, maintain an undiscriminating perception. Seeing everything, labeling nothing, they maintain their awareness of the Great Oneness. Thus they are supported by it.

Lao Tzu
Worlds and particles, bodies and beings, time and space: All are transient expressions of the Tao.

Lao Tzu
Understanding others is knowledge, Understanding oneself is enlightenment; Conquering others is power, Conquering oneself is strength.

Lao Tzu
He who knows others is wise;
He who knows himself is enlightened.
He who conquers others has physical strength.
He who conquers himself is strong.

Lao Tzu
Although most people spend their entire lives following this biological impulse (i.e. the sex drive), it is only a tiny portion of our beings.... If we remain obsessed with seeds and eggs, we are married to the fertile reproductive valley of the Mysterious Mother but not to her immeasurable heart and all-knowing mind.

Lao Tzu