“Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious. Great speech is impassioned, small speech cantankerous.”

To be constant is to be useful. To be useful is to realize one’s true nature. Realization of one’s true nature is happiness. When one reaches happiness, one is close to perfection.

The true man breathes with his heels.

Rewards and punishments are the lowest form of education.

Look at this window: it is nothing but a hole in the wall, but because of it the whole room is full of light. So when the faculties are empty, the heart is full of light.

All the fish needs is to get lost in the water. All man needs is to get lost in Tao.

Being is thoughtless-beyond and beneath all categories of thought. Expression is the realization of creative thought. Being is still; expression, moving. But then if I do not strive, who will?

The Way is to man as rivers and lakes are to fish, the natural condition of life.

Those who realise their folly are not true fools.

When people do not ignore what they should ignore, but ignore what they should not ignore, this is known as ignorance.

The perfect man uses his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing. It regrets nothing. It receives but does not keep.

Standards are different for all things, so the standard set by man is by no means the only ‘certain’ standard. If you mistake what is relative for something certain, you have strayed far from the ultimate truth.

One whose inner being is fixed upon such greatness emits a Heavenly glow. Even though he has this Heavenly glow, others will see him as just a man. Someone who has reached this point will begin to be consistent.

Your mind must become one, do not try to understand with your ears but with your heart. Indeed, not with your heart but with your soul.

Sound intelligence promises victory in every battle.

Great knowledge is universal. Small knowledge is limited. Great words are inspiring; small words are chatter.

The effect of life in society is to complicate and confuse our existence, making us forget who we really are by causing us to become obsessed with what we are not.