Quote collection
1.3K quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"He who knows much about others may be learned, but he who understands himself is more intelligent. He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still."
"A man is born gentle and weak. At death he is hard and stiff."
"Holding on to the weak is called strength."
"A man is born gentle and weak. At death, he is hard and stiff. Green plants are tender and filled with sap. At death, they are withered and dry. Therefore, the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death, and the gentle and yielding is the disciple of life."
"What is a good man? A teacher of a bad man. What is a bad man? A good man's charge?"
"It is fitting for a great nation to yield."
"In the Universe the difficult things are done as if they were easy."
"Yielding, like ice about to melt."
"To bear the country's disgrace is to rule the shrines of soil and grain. To bear the country's misfortunes is to be the king of the world."
"Thus an army without flexibility never wins a battle. A tree that is unbending is easily broken."
"There is a big misunderstanding about the idea of naturalness. Most people who come to us believing in some freedom or naturalness, but their understanding is what we call [heretical naturalness] ... a kind of "let-alone policy" or sloppiness... For a plant or stone to be natural is no problem. But for us there is some problem, indeed a big problem. To be natural is something we must work on."
"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."
"Keep your mouth shut, and close up the doors of sight and sound, and as long as you live you will have no vexation. But open your mouth, or become inquisitive, and you will be in trouble all your life long."
"Can you be still and look inside?If so, then you know the truth is always available, and always responsive."
"The truly wise are content to be last. They are, therefore, first. They are indifferent to themselves. They are, therefore self-confident."
"He that humbles himself shall be preserved entire. He that bends shall be made straight. He that is empty shall be filled. He that is worn out shall be renewed. He who has little shall succeed. He who has much shall go astray."
"Yet mystery and reality emerge from the same source."
"To know how little one knows is to have genuine knowledge. Not to know how little one knows is to be deluded. Only those who know when they are deluded can free themselves from such delusion. The intelligent people are not deluded, because they know and accept their ignorance as ignorance, and thereby have genuine knowledge."
"There is no greater offence than harbouring desires. There is no greater disaster than discontent. There is no greater misfortune than wanting more."
"Displaying riches and titles with pride brings about one's downfall."