“Being satisfied with little, you can gain much. Seeking much you will go astray. The wise heeds this precept. If it could be so with all people!”
Quote collection
People Quotes — page 978 of 5018
“The sage desires no desire, does not value rare treasures, learns without learning, recovers what people have left behind.”
“I have no desire to desire, and people become like the uncarved wood by themselves.”
“Other people have more than they need, I alone seem wanting.”
“The best people are like water, which benefits all things and does not compete with them. It stays in lowly places that others reject. This is why it is so similar to the Way.”
“Throw away holiness and wisdom, and people will be a hundred times happier. Throw away morality and justice, and people will do the right thing. Throw away industry and profit, and there won't be any thieves. If these three aren't enough, just stay at the center of the circle and let all things take their course.”
“What people loathe the most is to be orphaned, desolate, unworthy. But this is what princes and kings call themselves.”
“Heaven's Way is like stretching a bow. The high is lowered and the low is raised. Excess is reduced and deficiency is replenished. Heaven's Way reduces excess and replenishes deficiency. People's Way is not so. They reduce the deficient and supply the excessive.”
“The good leader carries water for his people.”
“The ruler attains wholeness in the correct governance of the people.”
“Those who make their living by collecting taxes cause the people to starve; when the people starve, the tax collectors, having no one to tax, starve also”
“Good Government is not intrusive the people are hardly aware of it; the next best is felt yet loved; then comes that which is known and feared; the worst government is hated.”
“In the highest antiquity, the people did not know that there were rulers. In the next age they loved them and praised them. In the next they feared them; in the next they despised them.”
“The Master has no mind of her own. She works with the mind of the people. She is good to people who are good. She is also good to people who aren't good. This is true goodness. She trusts people who are trustworthy. She also trusts people who aren't trustworthy. This is true trust. The Master's mind is like space. People don't understand her. They look to her and wait. She treats them like her own children.”
“The very highest is barely known. Then comes that which people know and love, Then that which is feared, Then that which is despised. Who does not trust enough will not be trusted.”
“To know people is wisdom, but to know yourself is enlightenment. to master people takes force, but to master yourself takes strength. to know contentment is wealth, and to live with strength resolve. to never leave whatever you are is to abide, and to die without getting lost- that is to live on and on.”
“If you are untrustworthy, people will not trust you.”
“Those who of old were good practicers of Tao did not use it to make people bright, but rather used it to make them simple.”
“If a country is governed with tolerance, the people are comfortable and honest. If a country is governed with repression, the people are depressed and crafty. When the will to power is in charge, the higher the ideals, the lower the results. Try to make people happy, and you lay the groundwork for misery. Try to make people moral, and you lay the groundwork for vice. Thus the Master is content to serve as an example and not to impose her will. She is pointed, but doesn't pierce. Straightforward, but supple. Radiant, but easy on the eyes.”
“Do not make them (people) weary at their work. If you do not make them weary, they will not be weary of you.”