Quote collection
1.3K quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"The journey of a thousand miles starts from beneath your feet. NOTE: Other translations exist, such as:Great trees grow from the smallest shoots;a terraced garden, from a pile of earth,and a journey of a thousand milesbegins by taking the initial step."
"Praise leads to weakness. Getting it causes fear, losing it causes fear."
"The noble must make humility his root."
"Pursue without interfering."
"Only by working within the laws that govern the flow of water will happiness be achieved."
"Take care of what is difficult while it is still easy, and deal with what will become big while it is yet small."
"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."
"All things such as grass and trees are soft and supple in life. At their death they are withered and dry."
"The truly great ones rely on substance, and not on surface, hold on to the fruit, and not to the flower."
"The True Person governs by emptying the heart of desire and filling the belly with food, weakening ambitions and strengthening bones."
"People take death lightly. They expect too much of life. That is why people take death lightly."
"Greed is costly. Assembled fortunes are lost."
"Realize thy Simple Self, Embrace thy Original Nature."
"The value of actions lies in their timing."
"Life is going forth; death is returning home."
"There was something formless and perfect before the universe was born. It is serene. Empty. Solitary. Unchanging. Infinite. Eternally present. It is the mother of the universe. For lack of a better name, I call it the Tao. It flows through all things, inside and outside, and returns to the origin of all things. The Tao is great. The universe is great. Earth is great. Man is great. These are the four great powers. Man follows the earth. Earth follows the universe. The universe follows the Tao. The Tao follows only itself."
"The highest tone is hard to hear."
"Do not imagine that an integral being has the ambition of enlightening the unaware or raising worldly people to the divine realm. To her, there is no self and other, and hence no one to be raised; no heaven and hell, and hence no destination."
"We desire to understand the world by giving names to the things we see, but these things are only the effects of something subtle."
"Geese are white, crows are black. No argument will change this."