“If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.”

Horses have hoofs to carry them over frost and snow; hair, to protect them from wind and cold. They eat grass and drink water, and fling up their heels. Such is the real nature of horses.

If you have grasped the purpose of life there is no point in trying to make life into something it is not or cannot be.

Where can I find a man who has forgotten words, so I can have a few words with him?

A frog in a well cannot conceive of the ocean.

Tao is the source of both fullness and emptiness. But it is itself neither fullness nor emptiness.

Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.

Men do not mirror themselves in running water – they mirror themselves in still water. Only what is still can still the stillness of other things.

The men of old breathed clear down to their heels.

When deeds and words are in accord, the whole world is transformed.

All men know the use of the useful, but nobody knows the use of the useless. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so that I can have a word with him?

The greatest tragedy that can befall a person is the atrophy of his mind.

Understanding that rests in what it does not understand is the finest.

The sage embraces things. Ordinary men discriminate amongst them and parade their discriminations before others. So I say; those who discriminate, fail to see.

He who regards all things as one is a companion of Nature.

Great knowledge sees all in one. Small knowledge breaks down into the many.

Verily God does not reward man for what he does, but for what he is.

Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.

We can love with our minds, but can we love only with our minds? Love extends itself all the time, so that we can love even with our senseless nails: we love even with our clothes, so that a sleeve can feel a sleeve.

I have dreamed in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they have gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.

When Nature her great masterpiece designed,And framed her last, best work, the human mind,Her eye intent on all the wondrous plan,She formed of various stuff the various Man.

The gentle mind by gentle deeds is known, For a man by nothing is so well betrayed As by his manners.

Female beauties are as fickle in their faces as in their minds; though casualties should spare them, age brings in a necessity of decay.

This iron world bungs down the stoutest hearts to lowest state; for misery doth bravest minds abate.

One could not be a successful scientist without realizing that, in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers and mothers of scientists, a goodly number of scientists are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.