Best 485 quotes in «taoism quotes» category

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

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

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

He who does not trust enough will not be trusted.

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.

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?

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

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 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

Peace and quiet govern the world.

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

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

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.

Simple, like uncarved wood.

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.

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

The biggest in the world is small in its beginning.

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 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.

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