When rich speculators prosper while farmers lose their land; when government officials spend money on weapons instead of cures; when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible while the poor have nowhere to turn-all this is robbery and chaos.
—Laozi
Topics: Justice
A foolish man is always doing, yet much remains to be done.
—Laozi
Topics: Fools
To perceive things in the germ is intelligence.
—Laozi
Topics: Intelligence
A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live.
—Laozi
Topics: How to Live
Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline; simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates strength.
—Laozi
Topics: Disorder, Intelligence, Cunning
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
—Laozi
Topics: Letting Go
In ruling the people and in serving heaven it is best for a ruler to be sparing. It is because he is sparing that it may be said that he is able to follow the way from the start; Following the way from the start he may be said to accumulate an abundance of virtue; Accumulating an abundance of virtue there is nothing he cannot overcome; When there is nothing he cannot overcome, no one knows his limit; When no one knows his limit he can possess a state.
—Laozi
Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding.
—Laozi
Topics: Discovery
As restrictions and prohibitions are multiplied the people grow poorer and poorer. When they are subjected to overmuch government, the land is thrown into confusion.
—Laozi
Topics: Government
When you find the way others will find you.
—Laozi
He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.
—Laozi
Topics: Self-Control, Power, Action, Control
Know contentment and you will suffer no disgrace. Know when to stop and you will meet with no danger. You can then endure.
—Laozi
Activity conquers cold, but stillness conquers heat.
—Laozi
There are many paths to enlightenment. Be sure to take one with a heart.
—Laozi
He who loves the world as his body may be entrusted with the empire.
—Laozi
Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.
—Laozi
Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires.
—Laozi
Topics: Simplicity
Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides.
—Laozi
Topics: Living
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.
—Laozi
Topics: Failure, Success
To know you have enough is to be rich.
—Laozi
When superior people hear of the Way, they carry it out with diligence. When middling people hear of the Way, it sometimes seems to be there, sometimes not. When lesser people hear of the Way, they ridicule it greatly. If they didn’t laugh at it, it wouldn’t be the Way.
—Laozi
Topics: Growth, Courage, People
The heavy is the root of the light. The tranquil is the ruler of the hasty.
—Laozi
Of the best rulers, The people only know that they exist; the next best they love and praise the next they fear; and the next they revile. When they do not command the people’s faith, some will lose faith in them, and then they resort to oaths! But of the best when their task is accomplished, their work done, the people all remark, “We have done it ourselves.”
—Laozi
Topics: Government
See simplicity in the complicated.
Achieve greatness in little things.
—Laozi
Topics: Perception
Rushing into action, you fail. Trying to grasp things, you lose them. Forcing a project to completion, you ruin what was almost ripe.
—Laozi
Topics: Action, Failure
Water flows humbly to the lowest level.
Nothing is weaker than water,
Yet for overcoming what is hard and strong,
Nothing surpasses it.
—Laozi
Topics: Water
The reason why the universe is eternal is that it does not live for itself; it gives life to others as it transforms.
—Laozi
Topics: Universe
Build up virtue, and you master all.
—Laozi
Topics: Goodness, Excellence, Kindness, Virtue, Action
I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.
—Laozi
Topics: Leaders, Leadership
A terrace nine stories high begins with a pile of earth.
—Laozi
Topics: One Step at a Time
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Zhuang Zhou Chinese Taoist Philosopher
- Confucius Chinese Philosopher
- Sun Tzu Chinese Military Leader
- Jianzhi Sengcan Chinese-Buddhist Monk
- Lin Yutang Chinese Author, Philologist
- Pythagoras Greek Philosopher
- Anacharsis Scythian Prince
- Epictetus Ancient Greek Philosopher
- Ludwig von Mises Austrian Economist
- Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi German Philosopher
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