Lao Tzu Quotes and Sayings

• To know that you have enough is to be rich.
   
• Though the Uncarved Block is small,
  it is not inferior to anything under heaven.
   
• Practice action without striving and all will be in order.
   
• The Tao is like an empty bowl,
  yet it may be used without ever needing to be filled.
  It is the deep and unfathomable source of the ten thousand things.
   
• In all things under heaven
  the female overcomes the male by her stillness,
  and because she is still she lies below.
   
• Fish are best left in deep waters.
  And, weapons are best kept out of sight.
   
• The ten thousand things flourish and then
  each returns to the root from which it came.
  Returning to the root is stillness.
  Through stillness each fulfils its destiny.
   
• What is well rooted cannot be pulled up.
  What is firmly grasped will not slip loose.
  It will be honoured from generation to generation.
   
• The Tao never strives, yet nothing is left undone.
  If leaders were able to adhere to it
  the ten thousand things
  would develop of their own accord.
   
• Those who look only at themselves see little.
  Those who justify themselves are not distinguished.
  Those who brag have no merit.
  The work of prideful people will not endure.
   
• The True Person is detached and humble
  and to the world appears confusing.
  The people all strain their eyes and ears,
  yet the True Person remains childlike.
   
• Knowing others is to be clever.
  Knowing yourself is to be enlightened.
  Overcoming others requires force.
  Overcoming yourself requires strength.