Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu Quotes and Sayings

The True Person avoids extremes, self-indulgence, and extravagance.
If you would assist leaders of people by way of the Tao,
you will oppose the use of armed force to overpower the world.
Few things under heaven bring more benefit than
the lessons learned from silence and
the actions taken without striving.
The Tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
True Persons do not hoard.
Using all they have for others, they still have more.
Giving all they have to others, they are richer than before.
In all things under heaven
the female overcomes the male by her stillness,
and because she is still she lies below.
What is well rooted cannot be pulled up.
What is firmly grasped will not slip loose.
It will be honoured from generation to generation.
The True Person does not harm the people.
Whenever there is no harm done,
that power flows into the common Virtue.
Weapons are not proper instruments for gentle people;
they use them only when they have no other choice.
Peace and quiet are what they value.
They do not glory in victory.
How did the sea gain kingship of a hundred streams?
Because it takes the lower position.
Hence, it is king of a hundred streams.
Help the people live!
Nourish the people!
Help them live yet lay no claim to them.
Benefit them yet seek no gratitude.
Guide them yet do not control them.
This is called the hidden Virtue.