Lao Tzu quotes

On wholeness

“The Tao is like a bellows: it is empty yet infinitely capable. The more you use it, the more it produces; the more you talk of it, the less you understand.”

“The Tao is called the Great Mother: empty yet inexhaustible, it gives birth to infinite worlds.”

“Governing a large country is like frying a small fish.”

“A journey of a thousand miles started with a first step.”

“People are difficult to be ruled, Because the ruler governs with personal desire and establishes too many laws to confuse the people.”

“Nothing that can be said in words is worth saying.”

“Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner.”

“When I am anxious it is because I am living in the future. When I am depressed it is because I am living in the past.”

“Lao-tse may be regarded as the deepest thinker of Chinese antiquity.”

“Political leaders are never leaders. For leaders we have to look to the Awakeners! Lao Tse, Buddha, Socrates, Jesus, Milarepa, Gurdjiev, Krishnamurti.”

On action

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

“The Tao is like a well: used but never used up. It is like the eternal void: filled with infinite possibilities. It is hidden but always present. I don't know who gave birth to it. It is older than God.”

“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try, the world is beyond the winning.”

“He who knows does not speak; he who speaks does not know.”

“A thousand-mile journey starts from your feet down there.”

“What I hear, I forget. What I say, I remember. What I do, I understand.”

“When the center does not hold, the circle falls apart.”

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”

“An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox”

On time

“Since before time and space were, the Tao is. It is beyond is and is not. How do I know this is true? I look inside myself and see.”

“A violent wind does not outlast the morning; a squall of rain does not outlast the day. Such is the course of Nature. And if Nature herself cannot sustain her efforts long, how much less can man!”

“Block the passages, shut the doors, And till the end your strength shall not fail. Open up the passages, increase your doings, And till your last day no help shall come to you.”

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

On presence

“He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.”

“When men lack a sense of awe, there will be disaster.”

On wisdom

“Laotse packs his oracular wisdom into five thousand words of concentrated brilliance. No thinker ever wrote fewer words to embody a whole philosophy and had as much influence upon the thought of a nation.”

“Whoever speaks is not wise, whoever is wise always keep silence; I hear this message from Laozi. If Laozi is a wise man, why did he himself write Dao De Jing which has five thousand words?”

On surrender

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”

On self-knowledge

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.”

On self-mastery

“Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.”

On silence

“Silence is a source of great strength.”

On patience

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

On stillness

“To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.”

On freedom

“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.”

On death

“I am not at all interested in immortality, only in the taste of tea.”

On love

“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.”

On fear

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”