Best 485 quotes in «taoism quotes» category

A net set up to catch fish may snare a duck; a mantis hunting an insect may itself be set upon by a sparrow. Machinations are hidden within machinations; changes arise beyond changes. So how can wit and cleverness be relied upon?

Approach your own inner life with a loving quality that accepts who you are without trying to change who you are.

Chaos is not disorder. Chaos is the totality of existence. You could call it God. You could use the term, the Tao. I like chaos. It means more to us in English. Chaos is all things, wild and wonderful, connected perfectly by the life force.

Close your mouth, block off your senses, blunt your sharpness, untie your knots, soften your glare, settle your dust. This is the primal identity.

Conceit and arrogance are acquired states of mind. Conquer acquired states of mind, and basic sanity can unfold. Passion and willfulness are part of false consciousness; erase false consciousness, and true consciousness will appear.

Conquering the world and changing it, I do not think it can succeed.

Cultivate virtue in the world, and it will be universal.

Cultivate virtue in yourself, and it will be true.

Displaying riches and titles with pride brings about one's downfall.

Do not make them (people) weary at their work. If you do not make them weary, they will not be weary of you.

Do you think you can make the world a better place? I do not think you can. It is already perfect.

A tree as wide as a man's embrace grows from a tiny shoot.

Being a model to the world, eternal virtue will never falter in you, and you return to the boundless.

Cautious, like crossing a river in the winter.

Filling all the way to the brim is not as good as halting in time.

Examine everything that you've been taught, not simply what you've been taught in school, but the images that have been held up to you since the time of your birth.

Having reached a high level of realization (or having accomplished anything in life), don't get excited or puffed up with pride but remain calm, humble, and in "perfect equanimity" if you want to continue in this deep state of consciousness.

Gradually, you were given a description of the world, a way of seeing, which is largely sexual.

Excellent warriors are not violent.

Hold on to the ancient Way to master the present, and to learn the distant beginning.

He who does not trust enough will not be trusted.

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?

He who treasures his body as much as the world can care for the world.

Heaven and Earth are not kind. They regard all things as offerings.

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

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 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 want to become full, let yourself be empty.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Loss is not as bad as wanting more.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Not valuing wealth prevents theft.

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.

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.

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

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

Peace and quiet govern the world.

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