The Tao’s principle is spontaneity.
The sage does not attempt anything very big, and thus achieves greatness.
Use your own light and return to the source of light. This is called practicing eternity.
If one desires to receive one must first give. This is called profound understanding.
The real is empty and the empty real.
Those who would take over the earth and shape it to their will, never, I notice succeed.
Only those who leisurely approach that which the masses are busy about can be busy about that which the masses take leisurely.
If the majority doesn’t laugh at you, beware that you must be saying something wrong. When the majority thinks you are a fool, only then is there some possibility of you being a wise man.
The moment truth is asserted, it becomes false.
Take care of what is difficult while it is still easy, and deal with what will become big while it is yet small.
Nature’s way is simple and easy, but men prefer the intricate and artificial.
It is better not to make merit a matter of reward Lest people conspire and contend.
Life and death are one thread...
That the soft overcomes the hard, and the yielding overcomes the resistant, is a fact known by all, but practiced by few.
He who controls the past controls the future.
I have three treasures which I hold and keep. The first is mercy; the second is economy. The third is daring not to be ahead of others. From mercy comes courage; from economy comes generosity; From humility comes leadership.
It’s hard to keep your balance standing tip-toe.
The surest test if a person be sane, is if she accepts life whole, as it is.
Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time’ is to say ‘I don’t want to.’
A terrace nine stories high begins with a pile of earth.
Be the chief but never the lord.