Tao Te Ching
Tao Te Ching 道德经 Dàodéjīng
By Lao Tzu
Themes
Quotes from Tao Te Ching 道德经 Dàodéjīng
“Without stillness, the earth would crumble.”
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“Focused on uncontrived awareness, not seduced by hope and fear, grasping and fixation; they are not swayed by a desire for change.”
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“Aggression destroys our greatest treasure.”
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“Awareness floats and drifts... making no distinction between going his way and going that way.”
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“Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.”
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“Because the wise never try to be great, they accomplish great things.”
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“Because they don't nurture an independent self, the wise put themselves in the background and find fulfillment.”
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“Believing in a separate self creates great suffering. How can there be suffering without a self?”
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“Chasing fame, fortune, pleasure and power only drives us crazy.”
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“Continuity beyond the realm of things, unthinkable thought beyond imagination.”
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“fear a constricted life, fear wasting your time with a meaningless career”
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“Filled with infinite possibilities and one with the dust, the Tao unites the world into one whole like a deep pool that never dries up.”
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“Forget even these rules - you will discover ordinary mind.”
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“Hold fast to the perpetual, momentary flickering of mind.”
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“If people know when to stop, danger dissolves.”
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“Less fame, less fighting, less praise, less competition”
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“Mindful of death and appreciating where they are,
They have no need for long journeys.”
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“Not wanting anything to be different, we see the inner essence.”
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“One with the dust, it unites the world into one whole.”
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“Only a leader not focused on personal gain, can wisely govern.”
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“Only those not seduced and controlled by something external will remain unmanipulated, uncorrupted by power.”
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“Our bodies disappear but the eternal present goes on and on.”
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“Recognize the masculine but turn back to the feminine and become the world’s riverbed.”
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“Repay wrongs with the Power of Goodness; requite injuries with good deeds.”
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“Returning to the root brings a peace that recognizes no difference between self and other.”
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“Shut out from sight the things of desire so that the people's hearts shall not be disturbed.”
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“Stop believing in wise words and reason; you will become your own sage.”
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“Take care of and appreciate but don't puff up and exaggerate; let go of that and choose this.”
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“Tampering makes thing worse because life is sacred just as it it.”
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“The body comes to its ending but nothing dies.”
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“The farther you go, the less you know.”
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“The foolish understand the words, the wise understand the sense.”
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“The more dysfunctional the family, the more autocratic and subservient.”
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“The mysterious feminine, the root and source of heaven and earth, inexhaustible and unfailing”
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“The nature of weapons is to turn against their holder... Great conquerors are really great criminals.”
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“The vanity of success only brings to harvest a crop of calamities.”
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“The Way of Heaven doesn't compete but easily wins.”
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“The wise appear simple and ordinary on the outside while holding a precious treasure concealed within.”
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43. Inscrutable
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“The wise can easily be made into leaders but leaders not so easily made wise.”
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“The wise… teach without saying anything… create without claiming… work without taking credit… accomplish without attachment.”
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“Therefore the wise teach without saying anything.”
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“They do not-doing and all goes well.”
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“They have advanced technology but they aren’t mesmerized by their tools, hypnotized by their computers, enslaved by their inventions.”
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“To look too hard for life is to find death.”
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“Use stillness to let what is troubled settle and grow clear”
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“What arises lasts forever because letting go makes it stay.”
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“What goes against the Tao comes to an early end.”
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“When impressed by an image of goodness, we create badness. If this becomes good, that becomes bad.”
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“When leaders are convinced by concepts, corruption, confusion, and conflict reign. When instead they remain unconvinced and open, blessings and goodness spread.”
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“When leaders work for personal reward, honesty fails and deception rules.”
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“When people appreciate and love life, they naturally love and take care of things.”
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“When seduced by an image of beauty, we create ugliness.”
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“When the people don’t have enough, why should the rich have too much?”
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“When the powerful make too much of life, the people make light of death.”
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“When the rich spend taxes on making themselves richer, the people starve.”
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75. Greed
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“When we recognize belief as sickness, healing begins.”
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“When you stop trying to be kind and just, you will discover basic goodness.”
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“When you succeed, be one with success. When you fail, be one with failure.
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23. Nothing and Not
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“Without an empty mind, people are useless.”
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“Without leaving home you can understand all that goes on in the world.”
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“Words that become names are only concepts, not real things.”
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Related Lineages (1 lineages)
Quotes about Tao Te Ching 道德经 Dàodéjīng (7 quotes)
“The past 5,000 words all explain 'the Tao of not accumulating’, what Buddhists call 'non-attachment’. Those who empty their minds on the last two lines will grasp most of Lao-tzu's book.”
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“The Tao Te Ching is a magic mirror, always found to reflect our concept of the truth. How easily we find our image in it! From person to person the sense changes, but the truthfulness remains.”
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“The first reaction of anyone scanning the Tao Te Ching is laughter; the second reaction, laughter at one's own laughter; and the third, a feeling that this sort of teaching is very much needed today.”
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“Composed over 2000 years ago, the Tao Te Ching and Chuang-tzu are among the world's most ancient and honored books of practical wisdom... Few of the world's great books have achieved the perennial currency of these writings... virtually all literate people in China have read [them]”
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“Nothing about [the Tao Te Ching] is certain except that it's Chinese, very old, and speaks to people everywhere as if it had been written yesterday.”
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“the straightest, most logical explanation as yet advanced for the continuance of life, the most logical use yet advised for enjoying it.”
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“This is the meaning of Lao-tzu’s entire book: opposites complement each other”
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