Lao Tzu - Tao Te Ching

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

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
Conquering others takes force, conquering yourself is true strength.

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
Giving birth and nourishing, Bearing yet not possessing, Working yet not taking credit, Leading yet not dominating, This is the Primal Virtue.

Lao Tzu
Why are the people rebellious? Because the rulers interfere too much. Therefore they are rebellious.

Lao Tzu
Approach the universe with Tao, And evil will have no power. Not that evil is not powerful, But its power will not be used to harm others.

Lao Tzu
What man has more than enough and gives it to the world? Only the man of Tao.

Lao Tzu
With that gentleness I can be bold; with that economy I can be liberal; shrinking from taking precedence of others, I can become a vessel of the highest honour.

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

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

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

Lao Tzu
Thus an army without flexibility never wins a battle. A tree that is unbending is easily broken.

Lao Tzu
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.

Lao Tzu
Force is followed by loss of strength. This is not the way of the Tao. That which goes against the Tao comes to an early end.

Lao Tzu
The sage wears clothes of coarse cloth but carries jewels in his bosom; He knows himself but does not display himself; He loves himself but does not hold himself in high esteem.

Lao Tzu
Why do the people think so little of death?
Because the rulers demand too much of life.
Therefore the people take death lightly.

Lao Tzu
Hold on to the great image, and the whole world follows, follows unharmed, content and completely at peace.

Lao Tzu
Without stirring abroad, One can know the whole world; Without looking out of the window One can see the way of heaven. The further one goes The less one knows.

Lao Tzu
Failure is the foundation of success, and the means by which it is achieved. Success is the lurking place of failure; but who can tell when the turning-place will come?

Lao Tzu
The more laws and restrictions there are, the poorer the people become.

Lao Tzu
I do not know its name. I call it the Way. For the lack of better words I call it great.

Lao Tzu
So sometimes things are ahead and sometimes they are behind; Sometimes breathing is hard, sometimes it comes easily; Sometimes there is strength and sometimes weakness; Sometimes one is up and sometimes down. Therefore the sage avoids extremes, excesses, and complacency.

Lao Tzu
See simplicity in the complicated. Achieve greatness in little things

Lao Tzu
Therefore the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death. The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.

Lao Tzu
He who overcomes others has force; he who overcomes himself is strong.

Lao Tzu
He who has achieved this state Is unconcerned with friends and enemies, With good and harm, with honor and disgrace. This therefore is the highest state of man.

Lao Tzu