Lao Tzu Quotes

210 Sourced Quotes

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
Highest good is like water. Because water excels in benefiting the myriad creatures without contending with them and settles where none would like to be, it comes closest to the way.

Lao Tzu
The first practice is the practice of undiscriminating virtue: take care of those who are deserving; also, and equally, take care of those who are not. When you extend your virtue in all directions without discriminating, you feet are firmly planted on the path that returns to the Tao.

Lao Tzu
The wise student hears of the Tao and practices it diligently. The average student hears of the Tao and gives it thought now and again.

Lao Tzu
Who can enjoy enlightenment and remain indifferent to suffering in the world? This is not in keeping with the Way. Only those who increase their service along with their understanding can be called men and women of Tao.

Lao Tzu
In the Way of Heaven, there is no partiality of love; it is always on the side of the good man.

Lao Tzu
What is a good man? A teacher of a bad man. What is a bad man? A good man's charge?

Lao Tzu
If you go searching for the Great Creator, you will come back empty-handed. The source of the universe is ultimately unknowable, a great invisible river flowing forever through a vast and fertile valley. Silent and uncreated, it creates all things.

Lao Tzu
The named was born from the unnamed... all being flows from non-being... the describable world emanates from an indescribable source.

Lao Tzu
Remember: if you can cease all restless activity, your integral nature will appear.

Lao Tzu
Those who make their living by collecting taxes cause the people to starve; when the people starve, the tax collectors, having no one to tax, starve also

Lao Tzu
I am good to people who are good. I am also good to people who are not good. Because Virtue is goodness.

Lao Tzu
Act non-action; undertake no undertaking; taste the tasteless.

Lao Tzu
Nature's way is simple and easy, but men prefer the intricate and artificial.

Lao Tzu
Purity and stillness give the correct law to all under heaven.

Lao Tzu
Good men are bad men's instructors, And bad men are good men's materials.

Lao Tzu
Pride attaches undue importance to the superiority of one's status in the eyes of others; and shame is fear of humiliation at one's inferior status in the estimation of others. When one sets one's heart on being highly esteemed, and achieves such rating, then he or she is automatically involved in fear of losing status.

Lao Tzu
Better stop short than fill to the brim. Oversharpen the blade, and the edge will soon blunt. Amass a store of gold and jade, and no one can protect it.

Lao Tzu
The people suffer from famine because of the multitude of taxes consumed by their superiors. It is through this that they suffer famine.

Lao Tzu
Do you imagine the universe is agitated? Go into the desert at night and look out at the stars. This practice should answer the question..... The master settles her mind as the universe settles the stars in the sky. By connecting her mind with the subtle origin, she calms it. Once calmed, it naturally expands, and ultimately her mind becomes as vast and immeasurable as the night sky.

Lao Tzu
Countless words
count less
than the silent balance
between yin and yang

Lao Tzu
The truly great man dwells on what is real and not what is on the surface.

Lao Tzu
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations. These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gate to all mystery.

Lao Tzu
Take care of what is difficult while it is still easy, and deal with what will become big while it is yet small.

Lao Tzu