Lao Tzu

“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.”

“Your own positive future begins in this moment. All you have is right now. Every goal is possible from here.”

“Knowing how to yield is strength”

“Do you have the patience to wait Till your mud settles and the water is clear?Can you remain unmovingTill the right action arises by itself?”

“Mastering others is strength. Mastering oneself makes you fearless.”

“Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.”

“Be still. Stillness reveals the secrets of eternity”

“Look, and it can't be seen.Listen, and it can't be heard.Reach, and it can't be grasped.Above, it isn't bright.Below, it isn't dark.Seamless, unnamable,it returns to the realm of nothing.Form that includes all forms,image without an image,subtle, beyond all conception.Approach it and there is no beginning;follow it and there is no end.You can't know it, but you can be it,at ease in your own life.Just realize where you come from:this is the essence of wisdom.”

“Knowing others is wisdom;Knowing the self is enlightenment.Mastering others requires force;Mastering the self requires strength;He who knows he has enough is rich.Perseverance is a sign of will power.”

“To realize that you do not understand is a virtue; not to realize that you do not understand is a defect.”

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

“When people see some things as beautiful,other things become ugly.When people see some things as good,other things become bad.”

“What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.”

“He who knows he has enough is rich. Perseverance is a sign of will power. He who stays where he is endures. To die but not to perish is to be eternally present.”

“There is no disaster greater than not being content; There is no misfortune greater than being covetous.”

“Do not conquer the world with force, for force only causes resistance. Thorns spring up when an army passes. Years of misery follow a great victory. Do only what needs to be done without using violence.”

“I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.”

“The Way to do is to be.”

“The person of superior integrity does not insist upon his integrity.For this reason, he has integrity.The person of inferior integritynever loses sight of his integrity;For this reason, he lacks integrity.”

“In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.”

“To be worn out is to be renewed.”

“if you want to know me, look inside your heart.”

“He who defends with love will be secure; Heaven will save him, and protect him with love.”

“Be like water.”

“Do you imagine the universe is agitated? Go into the desert at night and look at the stars. This practice should answer the question.”

“When the Master governs, the peopleare hardly aware that he exists.Next best is a leader who is loved.Next, one who is feared.The worst is one who is despised.If you don't trust people,you make them untrustworthy.The Master doesn't talk, he acts.When his work is done,the people say, "Amazing:we did it, all by ourselves!”

“As soon as you have made a thought, laugh at it.”

“all streams flow to the sea because it is lower than they are. humility gives it its power. if you want to govern the people, you must place yourself below them. if you want to lead the people, you must learn how to follow them.”

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

“Trying to control the future is like trying to take the master carpenter's place. When you handle the master carpenter's tools, chances are that you'll cut your 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?”

“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.”

“Take care with the end as you do with the beginning.”

“So the unwanting soulsees what's hidden,and the ever-wanting soulsees only what it wants.”

“The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world.Through this I know the advantage of taking no action.”

“Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Startwith what they know. Build with what they have. But with the bestleaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people willsay 'We have done this ourselves.”

“Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.”

“The slaying of multitudes should be mourned with sorrow. A victory should be celebrated with the funeral rite.”

“The flexible are preserved unbroken. The bent become straight. The empty are filled. The exhausted become renewed. The poor are enriched. The rich are confounded. Therefore the sage embraces the one. Because he doesn't display himself, people can see his light. Because he has nothing to prove, people can trust his words. Because he doesn't know who he is, people recognize themselves in him. Because he has no goal in mind, everything he does succeeds. The old saying that the flexible are preserved unbroken is surely right! If you have truely attained wholeness, everything will flock to you.”

“Wasting energy to obtain rare objects only impedes one's growth.”

“If a person seems wicked, do not cast him away. Awaken him with your words, elevate him with your deeds, repay his injury with your kindness. Do not cast him away; cast away his wickedness.”

“One who understands others has knowledge; one who understands himself has wisdom. Mastering others requires force; mastering the self needs strength.”

“A man is born gentle and weak; at his death he is hard and stiff. All things, including the grass and trees, are soft and pliable in life; dry and brittle in death. Stiffness is thus a companion of death; flexibility a companion of life. An army that cannot yield will be defeated. A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind. The hard and stiff will be broken; the soft and supple will prevail.”

“Everything under heaven is a sacred vessel and cannot be controlled. Trying to control leads to ruin. Trying to grasp, we lose. Allow your life to unfold naturally. Know that it too is a vessel of perfection. Just as you breathe in and breathe out, there is a time for being ahead and a time for being behind; a time for being in motion and a time for being at rest; a time for being vigorous and a time for being exhausted; a time for being safe and a time for being in danger.”

“The master observes the world but trusts his inner vision. He allows things to come and go. He prefers what is within to what is without.”

“Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment”

“When turmoil rules, go in.”

“The space between Heaven and Earth---is it not like a bellows?”

“We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move.We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness insidethat holds whatever we want.We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner spacethat makes it livable.We work with being, but non-being is what we use.”

“Every step is on the path.”