Best 485 quotes in «taoism quotes» category

I don't try to define the cosmos, I know it's unknowable, but I can understand my place in the world and my place in the universe through a mixture of Taoism, Catholicism, Zen or whatever I have at hand.

If a great country yields to a small country, it will conquer the small country. If a small country yields to a great country, it will be conquered by the great country.

If you want to be given everything, give everything up.

If good happens, good; if bad happens, good.

If you persist in trying to attain what is never attained (It is Tao's gift), if you persist in making effort to obtain what effort cannot get, if you persist in reasoning about what cannot be understood, you will be destroyed by the very thing you seek. To know when to stop, to know when you can get no further by your own action, this is the right beginning!

If you search everywhere, yet cannot find what you are seeking, it is because what you seek is already in your possession.

If you don't change direction, you end up where you are headed.

If you want to become full, let yourself be empty.

If you want to nourish a bird, you should let it live any way it chooses. Creatures differ because they have different likes and dislikes. Therefore the sages never require the same ability from all creatures. . . concepts of right should be founded on what is suitable. The true saint leaves wisdom to the ants, takes a cue from the fishes, and leaves willfulness to the sheep.

I have three treasures that I cherish. The first is compassion. The second is moderation. The third is not claiming to be first in the world.

In adversity, everything that surrounds you is a kind of medicine that helps you refine your conduct, yet you are unaware of it. In pleasant situations, you are faced with weapons that will tear you apart, yet you do not realize it.

In whatever you do, if you leave a sense of incompleteness, then Creation cannot resent you, ghosts and spirits cannot harm you. If you insist on fulfillment in your work and perfection in achievement, you will become either inwardly deranged or outwardly unsettled.

Knowing the future is the flower of the Way, and the beginning of folly.

Love the whole world as if it were your self; then you will truly care for all things.

In the mind engaged in struggling with hardship, one always finds something delightful. The sorrow of disappointment arises in the complacency of satisfaction.

Loss is not as bad as wanting more.

Never take over the world to tamper with it. Those who want to tamper with it are not fit to take over the world.

Many sections are taken up with political discussions and how the way of the ruler, the merchant, the householder, and the army interact with the Tao.

Not valuing wealth prevents theft.

No misfortune is worse than underestimating the enemy. Underestimating the enemy, I risk losing my treasure.

One should not seek happiness, just nurture the spirit of joy as the basis of summoning happiness. One should not try to escape misfortune, just get rid of viciousness as a means of avoiding misfortune.

People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.

Only I am clumsy, like drifting on the waves of the sea, without direction.

Peace and quiet are preferred. Victory should not be praised.

Peace and quiet govern the world.

People are hard to govern. The rulers interfere with too much. That is why people are hard to govern.

People are born soft and weak. They die hard and stiff.

Simple, like uncarved wood.

People starve. The rulers consume too much with their taxes. That is why people starve.

Quiet your mind and stop judging and resisting and manipulating the natural way.

People's shortcomings should be treated with tact; if you expose them crudely, this is attacking weakness with a weakness. When people are stubborn, it requires skill to influence them; if you treat them with anger and spite, this is treating stubbornness with stubbornness.

Racing through the field and hunting make the mind wild.

Rule your mind with serenity rather than with force and manipulation.

See others as yourself. See families as your family. See towns as your town. See countries as your country. See worlds as your world.

Some have lavish garments, carry sharp swords, and feast on food and drink. They possess more than they can spend. This is called the vanity of robbers. It is certainly not the Way.

Taoism is the gentle way. The path of least resistence.

The biggest in the world is small in its beginning.

The dreams of existence of that we call time, space, matter, subject, object, yin, yang - everything flows forth from this tai chi.

The Great Vessel takes long to complete.

The highest tone is hard to hear.

Stop trying to control. Let go of fixed plans and concepts, and the world will govern itself.

Taoism is not a religion, although perhaps it has been made into one by some people. Lao Tsu's way of life occurs in any spiritual philosophy.

That so few understand me is why I am treasured.

The career of a sage is of two kinds: He is either honored by all in the world, Like a flower waving its head, Or else he disappears into the silent forest.

The great Way is very straight, but people prefer to deviate.

The hard and stiff are death's companions. The soft and weak are life's companions.

The I Ching tells us that for every ending there is a new beginning. In other words, what appears like a transition isn't really a transition; it's a continuum of existence. If you close your eyes for a moment the room will appear to go away. But does it really? Open your eyes again and the room will still be there. That's all death is.

The most difficult in the world must be easy in its beginning.

The highest virtue is not virtuous. Therefore it has virtue. The lowest virtue holds on to virtue. Therefore it has no virtue.

The man who has some respect for his person keeps his carcass out of sight, hides himself as perfectly as he can.