Taoism Quotes

The great image lacks shape.

All things carry yin and embrace yang. They reach harmony by blending with the vital breath.

So the unwanting soul sees what's hidden, and the ever-wanting soul sees only what it wants.

Knowing the future is the flower of the Way, and the beginning of folly.

When the uncarved wood is split, its parts are put to use. When the sage is put to use, he becomes the head.

The sage wears coarse clothes, concealing jade.

Who can rest until the moment of action?

Stillness is easy to maintain.

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

Yielding is the manner of the Way.

The sage governs by emptying senses and filling bellies.

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.

Without looking through the window, you can see Heaven's Way.

Without stepping out the door, you can know the world.

In the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired. In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped.

The softest in the world surpasses the hardest in the world.

Holding on to the weak is called strength.

To bear the country's disgrace is to rule the shrines of soil and grain. To bear the country's misfortunes is to be the king of the world.

Yielding, like ice about to melt.

Tao is beyond words and beyond things. It is not expressed either in word or in silence. Where there is no longer word or silence Tao is apprehended.

By ethical argument and moral principle the greatest crimes are eventually shown to have been necessary, and, in fact, a signal benefit to mankind.

A thousand pieces of gold may hardly bring a moment's happiness, but a small favor can cause a lifetime's gratitude. Too much love can turn to enmity, while aloofness can produce joy.

We may be floating on Tao, but there is nothing wrong with steering. If Tao is like a river, it is certainly good to know where the rocks are.

If there's no background, no foreground, no opposition, no complements, then there's no change becasue there's no subject and object.

We create ying and yang, yes and no, plus and minus.

Lao-tze's Taoism is the exhibition of a way or method of living which men should cultivate as the highest and purest development of their nature.

What we mean by Tao is the way or course of Nature. This way has nothing good or bad, it is a mere flowing of things following the development and decline attributes of the moment.

Displaying riches and titles with pride brings about one's downfall.

When family ties are disturbed, devoted children arise.

Rituals are the end of fidelity and honesty, and the beginning of confusion.

There is no greater crime than desire.

The sage attends to the belly, and not to what he sees.

Taking things lightly must lead to big difficulties.

The female always surpasses the male with stillness. In her stillness she is yielding.

The Way is hidden and nameless. Still only the Way nourishes and completes.

Abandon benevolence, discard duty, and people will return to the family ties.

Those who die without being forgotten get longevity.

If people live in constant fear of death, and if breaking the law is punished by death, then who would dare?

As it acts in the world, the Tao is like the bending of a bow. The top is bent downward; the bottom is bent up. It adjusts excess and deficiency so that there is perfect balance.

Praise leads to weakness. Getting it causes fear, losing it causes fear.

The noble must make humility his root.

Pursue without interfering.

All things such as grass and trees are soft and supple in life. At their death they are withered and dry.

The truly great ones rely on substance, and not on surface, hold on to the fruit, and not to the flower.

People take death lightly. They expect too much of life. That is why people take death lightly.

If you have a good idea, use it so that you will not only accomplish something, but so that you can make room for new ones to flow into you.

Taoism extols the virtue of flexibility. What survives on earth is what effortlessly adapts to the changing environment and changing circumstances.

The essence of Taoism is really expressed by these few words. Taoism is the way of the child, the way of the fool, the way of someone who doesn't need to be noticed.

The primary quality that Lao Tzu seems to emobdy is humility, which is the image of water - seeking the common level of existence.