The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world. Through this I know the advantage of taking no action.
Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
The way to use life is to do nothing through acting, The way to use life is to do everything through being.
One cannot reflect in streaming water. Only those who know internal peace can give it to others.
We are all capable of much more than we think we are.
The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.
When the student is ready the teacher will appear.
Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish, too much handling will spoil it.
A tree trunk the size of a man grows from a blade as thin as a hair. A tower nine stories high is built from a small heap of earth.
Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner.
Build up virtue, and you master all.
When superior people hear of the Way, they carry it out with diligence. When middling people hear of the Way, it sometimes seems to be there, sometimes not. When lesser people hear of the Way, they ridicule it greatly. If they didn’t laugh at it, it wouldn’t be the Way.
When taxes are too high, people go hungry.
The more laws and restrictions there are, the poorer the people become.
I let go of all desire for the common good, and the good becomes as common as the grass.
Gently eliminating all obstacles to his own understanding, he constantly maintains his unconditional sincerity. His humility, perseverance, and adaptability evoke the response of the universe and fill him with divine light.
The higher the sun ariseth, the less shadow doth he cast; even so the greater is the goodness, the less doth it covet praise; yet cannot avoid its rewards in honors.
The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes.
No thought, no action, no movement, total stillness: only thus can one manifest the true nature and law of things from within and unconsciously, and at last become one with heaven and earth.