Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
The hard and stiff are death's companions. The soft and weak are life's companions.
What is a good man? A teacher of a bad man. What is a bad man? A good man's charge?
Your name or your body, what is dearer? Your body or your wealth, what is worthier?
Follow diligently the Way in your own heart, but make no display of it to the world.
Thirty spokes are joined in the wheel's hub. The hole in the middle makes it useful.
The fish cannot leave the deep waters. The state's weaponry should not be displayed.
Although there are weapons for tens and hundreds of soldiers, they will not be used.
The Way is the source of all things, good people's treasure and bad people's refuge.
The virtuous carry out the settlement, but those without virtue pursue their claims.
Hold on to the center and make up your mind to rejoice in this paradise called life.
The reason for great distress is the body. Without it, what distress could there be?
Make your heart like a lake, with calm, still surface, and great depths of kindness.
When two opposing sides meet in battle, the one without an enemy will be victorious.
When pure sincerity forms within, it is outwardly realized in other people's hearts.
I do not concern myself with gods and spirits either good or evil nor do I serve any.
If one desires to receive one must first give. This is called profound understanding.
Profound virtue is indeed deep and wide. It leads all things back to the great order.
The river and the sea can be kings of a hundred valleys, because they lie below them.
Hold on to the ancient Way to master the present, and to learn the distant beginning.
You should rule a great country As you would fry a small fish- With the least turning.
[The Master] doesn't glitter like a jewel... [but is] as rugged and common as a stone.
If lightning is the anger of the gods, then the gods are concerned mostly about trees.
Love the whole world as if it were your self; then you will truly care for all things.
The female always surpasses the male with stillness. In her stillness she is yielding.
The sage knows without traveling, perceives without looking, completes without acting.
That which is achieved the most, still has the whole of its future yet to be achieved.
When you have accomplished your goal simply walk away. This is the path way to Heaven.
The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be.
Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish, too much handling will spoil it.
People starve. The rulers consume too much with their taxes. That is why people starve.
The world's big things only can be done by paying attention to their humble beginnings.
Deal with difficult tasks while they are easy. Act on large issues while they are small.
We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move.
Clay is used to make vases, but it is the emptiness they contain that makes them useful.
Those who would take over the earth and shape it to their will, never, I notice succeed.
I let go of all desire for the common good, and the good becomes as common as the grass.
Act without striving. Work without interfering. Find the flavour in what is flavourless.
The Way begets one; one begets two; two begets three; three begets the myriad creatures.
The feminine values are the fountain of bliss. Know the masculine, Keep to the feminine.
I do not know its name. I call it the Way. For the lack of better words I call it great.
Knowing that you do not know is the best. Not knowing that you do not know is an illness.
To become learned, each day add something. To become enlightened, each day drop something
If I have just an ounce of sense, I follow the great Way, and fear only to stray from it.
Take [preventive] action before things happen. Establish order before disorder has begun.
The nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth. The named is the mother of all things.
Use your own light and return to the source of light. This is called practicing eternity.
Governing a large country is like frying a small fish. You spoil it with too much poking.
He who defends with love will be secure; Heaven will save him, and protect him with love.
Only by working within the laws that govern the flow of water will happiness be achieved.
When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally.