Laozi Quotes

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.

I thought I know you,
but it was only me.
The you that you truly are
is not the you I see.
My mind has formed your image
but you have already travelled on
I want to see only you
but I see you through me

The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying, without striving (to the contrary), the low place which all men dislike.

Be still. Stillness reveals the secrets of eternity

The highest excellence is like (that of) water.

Men are born soft and supple; dead they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry. Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death. Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life. The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail.

The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be.

Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.

With no desire, at rest and still, All things go right as of their will.

Therefore the Sage embraces the One,
And becomes the model of the world.
He does not reveal himself, And is therefore luminous.
He does not justify himself, And is therefore far-famed.
He does not boast himself, And therefore people give him credit.
He does not pride himself, And is therefore the ruler among men.
It is because he does not contend
That no one in the world can contend against him.

Those who know don’t talk. Those who talk don’t know. Close your mouth, block off your senses, blunt your sharpness, untie your knots, soften your glare, settle your dust. This is the primal identity. Be like the Tao. It can’t be approached or withdrawn from, benefited or harmed, honored or brought into disgrace. It gives itself up continually. That is why it endures.

A good traveler has no fixed plans
and is not intent upon arriving.
A good artist lets his intuition
lead him wherever it wants.
A good scientist has freed himself of concepts
and keeps his mind open to what is.

Thus the Master is available to all people
and doesn't reject anyone.
He is ready to use all situations
and doesn't waste anything.
This is called embodying the light.

What is a good man but a bad man's teacher?
What is a bad man but a good man's job?
If you don't understand this, you will get lost,
however intelligent you are.
It is the great secret.

All difficult things in the world are sure to arise from a previous state in which they were easy, and all great things from one in which they were small.

To lead people, walk beside them ...
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.
The next best, the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate ...
When the best leader's work is done the people say,
We did it ourselves!

If you try to change it, you will ruin it. Try to hold it, and you will lose it.