Laozi
Philosopher
"If you search everywhere, yet cannot find what you are seeking, it is because what you seek is already in your possession."
Tao Te Ching quotes
Tao Te Ching
38 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Laozi
Philosopher
"Those who know do not talk. Those who talk do not know."
Laozi
Philosopher
"Stop thinking, and end your problems."
Laozi
Philosopher
"The best leaders are those their people hardly know exist. The next best is a leader who is loved and praised. Next comes the one who is feared. The worst one is the leader that is despised ... The best leaders value their words, and use them sparingly. When they have accomplished their task, the people say, "Amazing! We did it, all by ourselves!"
Laozi
Philosopher
"Free from desire, you realize the mystery, caught in the desire, you see only the manifestations."
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Tao Te Ching quotes (page 1 of 2)
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"If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich."
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"Try to change it and you will ruin it. Try to hold it and you will lose it."
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"If you want to know me, look inside your heart."
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"The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name."
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"The Master's power is like this. He lets all things come and go effortlessly, without desire. He never expects results; thus he is never disappointed. He is never disappointed; thus his spirit never grows old."
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"If you want to become full, let yourself be empty."
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"If you are at peace, you are living in the present."
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"When people see some things as good, other things become bad."
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"When nothing is done, nothing is left undone."
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"When there is no desire, all things are at peace"
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"He who stands on tiptoe does not stand firm."
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"To understand the limitation of things, desire them."
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"Give evil nothing to oppose and it will disappear by itself."
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"Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding."
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"The nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth. The named is the mother of all things."
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"Hope and fear are both phantoms that arise from thinking of the self. When we don't see the self as self, what do we have to fear?"
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"Free from desire, you realize the mystery."
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"If you want to be given everything, give everything up."
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"Close your mouth, block off your senses, blunt your sharpness, untie your knots, soften your glare, settle your dust. This is the primal identity."
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"The more you know the less you understand."
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