Taoism Quotes

If people are not afraid of dying, why threaten them with death?

My words are very easy to understand and very easy to practice; but there is no one in the world who is able to understand and practice them.

The purest white seems stained.

We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it liveable.

Who you are is always right.

We are born from a quiet sleep, and we die to a calm awakening

When the world is ruled according to the Way, the ghosts lose their power. The ghosts do not really lose their power, but it is not used to harm people.

My words have an origin. My deeds have a sovereign. Truly, because people do not understand this, they do not understand me.

What is and what is not create each other.

Let the country be small, and the inhabitants few.

The sturdiest virtue seems fragile.

The Way is ever nameless.

When the Way is lost there is virtue. When virtue is lost there is benevolence. When benevolence is lost there is righteousness. When righteousness is lost there are rituals.

Do you think you can make the world a better place? I do not think you can. It is already perfect.

Words spoken about the Way have no taste. When looked at, there's not enough to see. When listened to, there's not enough to hear. When used, it is never exhausted.

Attain utmost emptiness. Abide in steadfast stillness.

Heavy is the root of light.

The road of truth is broad; set the mind on it, and you feel expansive openness and broad clarity. The road of human desires is narrow; set foot on it, and you see brambles and mire before you.

The high must make the low its base.

A multitude of words is tiresome, unlike remaining centered.

What's the difference between yes and no?

If you are interested in Taoism, I would suggest that you read the Way of Life by Lao Tsu, the founder of Taoism. I personally prefer the Witter Brynner translation.

The Great Vessel takes long to complete.

The virtuous carry out the settlement, but those without virtue pursue their claims.

The grandest virtue seems deficient.

When you are one with loss, the loss is experienced willingly.

Taoism has no rules. It's a suggestion for preceiving life in its wholeness, without unnessary categorization, yet enjoying the beauty of categorization.

You should be forgiving when others make mistakes, but not when the mistakes are in you. You should be patient under duress yourself, but not when it affects others.

The Tao is like a well; used but never used up.

The best way to carve is not to split.

The Tao of the sage is work without effort.

When the government is quite unobtrusive, people are indeed pure. When the government is quite prying, people are indeed conniving.

The reason for great distress is the body. Without it, what distress could there be?

Because he (the Sage) demands no honor, he will never be dishonored.

Meet the big while it is small.

My body is in accord with my mind, my mind with my energies, my energies with my spirit, my spirit with Nothing.

An ancient gnarled tree: Too fibrous for a logger's saw, Too twisted to fit a carpenter's square, Outlasts the whole forest.

What's the difference between beautiful and ugly?

The Way is empty, yet inexhaustible, like an abyss!

What is well planted will not be uprooted.

The Way that can be walked is not the eternal Way.

Those who live simply are often pure, while those who live luxuriously may be slavish and servile. It seems that the will is clarified by plainness, while conduct is ruined by indulgence.

Things exalted then decay. This is going against the Way. What goes against the Way meets an early end.

Those who stand on their toes are not steady.

Nothing is lost. . .Everything is transformed.

The sage wears coarse clothes, concealing jade.

The wise man is one who knows what he does not know.

The soft and weak can overcome the hard and strong.

Filling all the way to the brim is not as good as halting in time.

Yielding is the manner of the Way.