Meet the difficult while it is easy.
LAOZIWhy is the sea king of a hundred streams? Because it lies below them… If the sage would guide the people, he must serve with humility. If he would lead them, he must follow behind. In this way when the sage rules, the people will not feel oppressed.
More Laozi Quotes
-
-
An integral being knows without going, sees without looking, and accomplishes without doing.
LAOZI -
Heavy is the root of light.
LAOZI -
When the uncarved wood is split, its parts are put to use. When the sage is put to use, he becomes the head.
LAOZI -
Every step is on the path.
LAOZI -
In the highest antiquity, the people did not know that there were rulers. In the next age they loved them and praised them. In the next they feared them; in the next they despised them.
LAOZI -
The more prohibitions you have, the less virtuous people will be. Try to make people moral, and you lay the groundwork for vice.
LAOZI -
When the intelligent and animal souls are held together in one embrace, they can be kept from separating.
LAOZI -
Softness triumphs over hardness, feebleness over strength. What is more malleable is always superior over that which is immoveable. This is the principle of controlling things by going along with them, of mastery through adaptation.
LAOZI -
The flame that burns Twice as bright burns half as long.
LAOZI -
Weapons are instruments of fear; they are not a wise man’s tools. He uses them only when he has no choice.
LAOZI -
The world’s beginning is its mother. To have found the mother is also to know the children. Although you know the children, cling to the mother. Until your last day you will not be harmed.
LAOZI -
The seed of mystery lies in muddy water. How can I perceive this mystery? Water becomes clear through stillness. How can I become still? By flowing with the stream.
LAOZI -
With virtue and quietness one may conquer the world.
LAOZI -
Face the simple fact before it comes involved. Solve the small problem before it becomes big.
LAOZI -
When people see some things as good, other things become bad.
LAOZI -
In ancient times, those who followed the Way did not try to give people knowledge thereof, but kept them ignorant.
LAOZI -
If you want to be given everything, give everything up.
LAOZI -
Empty yourself of everything. Let the mind become still. The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return. They grow and flourish and then return to the source. Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.
LAOZI -
Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.
LAOZI -
Make your heart like a lake, with calm, still surface, and great depths of kindness.
LAOZI -
The farther you go, the less you know.
LAOZI -
Those who act will fail. Those who seize will lose.
LAOZI -
A multitude of words is tiresome, unlike remaining centered.
LAOZI -
Take [preventive] action before things happen. Establish order before disorder has begun.
LAOZI -
Make the small big and the few many.
LAOZI -
The sage is not ill, because he sees illness as illness.
LAOZI