Quotes About Taoism

#1. I am wearied, as if I lacked a home to go to.

Laozi

#2. The highest virtue is not virtuous. Therefore it has virtue. The lowest virtue holds on to virtue. Therefore it has no virtue.

Laozi

#3. Do not make them (people) weary at their work. If you do not make them weary, they will not be weary of you.

Laozi

#4. So it is said, for him who understands Heavenly joy, life is the working of Heaven; death is the transformation of things. In stillness, he and the yin share a single Virtue; in motion, he and the yang share a single flow.

Zhuangzi

#5. Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.

Alan W. Watts

#6. What Heaven detests, who knows why? Even the sage considers it difficult.

Laozi

#7. The mind of the child is not formed. We are shown that this is life, this is the world.

Frederick Lenz

#8. If I have just an ounce of sense, I follow the great Way, and fear only to stray from it.

Laozi

#9. The sage does not act and therefore does not fail, does not seize and therefore does not lose.

Laozi

#10. Those who defeat others are strong, those who defeat themselves are mighty.

Laozi

#11. Filling all the way to the brim is not as good as halting in time.

Laozi

#12. When leading people and serving Heaven, nothing exceeds moderation.

Laozi

#13. Why did the ancients praise the Way? Did they not say it was because you find what you seek and are saved from your wrongdoings?

Laozi

#14. Heavy is the root of light.

Laozi

#15. Thorn bushes grow where armies have camped.

Laozi

#16. The ancients said: Hulk to be whole.

Laozi

#17. The virtuous carry out the settlement, but those without virtue pursue their claims.

Laozi

#18. Lao Tsu says the way of life is water, to be fluid.

Frederick Lenz

#19. Everyone is groping and grasping," he says. "People are turning to Buddhism, Christianity, self-help, and Taoism. CEOs and billionaires run around with their spiritual masters and visit meditation rooms.

Anonymous

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

Laozi

#21. The hard and mighty lie beneath the ground
While the tender and weak dance on the breeze above.

Lao-Tzu

#22. The most difficult in the world must be easy in its beginning.

Laozi

#23. Fine words are traded. Noble deeds gain respect. But people who are not good, why abandon them?

Laozi

#24. People are hard to govern. The rulers interfere with too much. That is why people are hard to govern.

Laozi

#25. The sturdiest virtue seems fragile.

Laozi

#26. There is no greater disaster than discontent.

Laozi

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

Laozi

#28. What has no substance can penetrate what has no opening.

Laozi

#29. Because he (the Sage) opposes no one, no one in the world can oppose him.

Laozi

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

Laozi

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

Frederick Lenz

#32. There is one appointed supreme executioner. Truly, trying to take the place of the supreme executioner is like trying to carve wood like a master carpenter. Of those who try to carve wood like a master carpenter, there are few who do not injure their hands.

Laozi

#33. Just as when water is frozen in to a form as ice and then melts - so at the time of death, there is no death. The spirit simply changes form.

Frederick Lenz

#34. When good thing are accomplished, it does not claim (or name) them. This is Te, which is close in meaning to power or virtue. It is something within a person, and it is enhanced by following the Tao, or 'that from which nothing can deviate'.

Laozi

#35. Because he (the Sage) demands no honor, he will never be dishonored.

Laozi

#36. You have only to rest in inaction and things will transform themselves. Smash your form and body, spit out hearing and eyesight, forget you are a thing among other things, and you may join in great unity with the deep and boundless.

Zhuangzi

#37. Yielding is the manner of the Way.

Laozi

#38. When there is time, there has to be suffering. Because in time there's desire and attachment and transition. This is the world of experience.

Frederick Lenz

#39. Yielding, like ice about to melt.

Laozi

#40. When we practice sacred sexuality we are working with cosmologically rooted principles, balancing the heavenly yang (male energy) of the universe with the all-knowing, life-giving yin (feminine energy) of the earth within ourselves.

John Maxwell Taylor

#41. Those who stand on their toes are not steady.

Laozi

#42. The best way to carve is not to split.

Laozi

#43. Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things?

Laozi

#44. The I Cing is a study in duality and what lies beyond duality.

Frederick Lenz

#45. If you can find true contentment, it will last forever.

Laozi

#46. Pursue without interfering.

Laozi

#47. Taoism shows us how to deal with life and death by realizing everything here is transitory but its substance is eternal:

Frederick Lenz

#48. Wary, as if surrounded by strangers.

Laozi

#49. When you have accomplished your goal simply walk away. This is the path way to Heaven.

Laozi

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

Laozi

#51. In adversity, everything that surrounds you is a kind of medicine that helps you refine your conduct, yet you are unaware of it. In pleasant situations, you are faced with weapons that will tear you apart, yet you do not realize it.

Zicheng Hong

#52. He (the sage) wants all things to follow their own nature, but dares not act.

Laozi

#53. Only the intelligent knows how to identify all things as one ... When one is at ease with himself, one is near Tao. This is to let Nature take its own course.

Zhuangzi

#54. To notice people's deceptions yet not reveal it in words, to bear people's insults without showing any change of attitude-there is endless meaning in this, and also endless function.

Zicheng Hong

#55. The sage is sharp but does not cut, pointed but does not pierce, forthright but does not offend, bright but does not dazzle.

Laozi

#56. As soon as rules were made, names were given. There are already many names. One must know when it is enough.

Laozi

#57. Those who boast are not respected.

Laozi

#58. The sage embraces the one, and is an example to the world.

Laozi

#59. The Master's power is like this. He lets all things come and go effortlessly, without desire. He never expects results; thus he is never disappointed. He is never disappointed; thus his spirit never grows old.

Laozi

#60. I'm not even sure that Buddhism is a religion really. It seems like more of just a spiritual practice, I'd compare it more to Taoism than religion.

Sienna McQuillen

#61. Treat gain and loss the same.' Don't be Intimidated. Don't make a Big Deal of anything - just accept things as they come to you.

Benjamin Hoff

#62. The world's beginning is its mother. To have found the mother is also to know the children. Although you know the children, cling to the mother. Until your last day you will not be harmed.

Laozi

#63. Those who are content suffer no disgrace.

Laozi

#64. The weak overcomes the strong. The soft overcomes the hard. Everybody in the world knows this, still nobody makes use of it.

Laozi

#65. If a branch is too rigid, it will break. Resist, and you will perish. Know how to yield, and you will survive.

Liezi

#66. 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.

Ming-Dao Deng

#67. Stop trying to control. Let go of fixed plans and concepts, and the world will govern itself.

Laozi

#68. Pounding an edge to sharpness will not make it last.

Laozi

#69. People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.

Laozi

#70. All things arise in unison. Thereby we see their return.

Laozi

#71. The Tao is told is not the Tao.

Laozi

#72. To be of few words is natural.

Laozi

#73. Polish what you polish until it is like gold that has been refined a hundred times; anything that is done in a hurry is not deeply developed. Do what you do like a thousand-pound catapult; one who pops off too easily does not accomplish much.

Zicheng Hong

#74. Not valuing wealth prevents theft.

Laozi

#75. Heaven and Earth last for ever. Why do Heaven and Earth last for ever? They are unborn, so ever living. The sage stays behind, thus he is ahead. He is detached, thus at one with all. Through selfless action, he attains fulfillment.

Laozi

#76. The Tao never acts with force, yet there is nothing that it can not do.

Laozi

#77. The Way is eternal. Until your last day, you are free from peril.

Laozi

#78. Those who stay where they are will endure.

Laozi

#79. The Spirit Tower has its guardian, but unless it understands who its guardian is, it cannot be guarded.

Zhuangzi

#80. Most beings enjoy existence so time comes into being.

Frederick Lenz

#81. Things joined by profit, when pressed by misfortune and danger, will cast each other aside.

Zhuangzi

#82. To be brave without compassion, generous without moderation, and rule without refraining from being first in the world, are certain deaths.

Laozi

#83. If a great country yields to a small country, it will conquer the small country. If a small country yields to a great country, it will be conquered by the great country.

Laozi

#84. Emptiness appears barren
yet is infinite fullness

Lao-Tzu

#85. Keeping plenty of gold and jade in the palace makes no one able to defend it.

Laozi

#86. The most straight seems curved.

Laozi

#87. Those who are quiet value the words. When their task is completed, people will say: We did it ourselves.

Laozi

#88. When the emperor is crowned or the three dukes are appointed, rather than sending a gift of jade carried by four horses, remain still and offer the Way.

Laozi

#89. The greatest virtue is to follow the Way utterly.

Laozi

#90. When thoughts arise, as soon as you sense them heading on the road of desire, bring them right back onto the road of reason. Once they arise, notice them, once you notice them, you can change them. This is the key to turning calamity into fortune, rising from death and returning to life.

Zicheng Hong

#91. Doing or not doing something - they are similar. Both involve an action and sincerity.

CLAMP

#92. By not claiming to be first in the world one can rule.

Laozi

#93. The greatest vessel takes long to complete.

Laozi

#94. Gain or loss, what is worse?

Laozi

#95. When it reaches a blockage, water find the easiest path around the blockage, or it continues to assemble, and flows over the blockage.

Frederick Lenz

#96. I have no desire to desire, and people become like the uncarved wood by themselves.

Laozi

#97. The dreams of existence of that we call time, space, matter, subject, object, yin, yang - everything flows forth from this tai chi.

Frederick Lenz

#98. The sage knows himself, but does not parade. He cherishes himself, but does not praise himself.

Laozi

#99. Those who praise themselves do not prevail.

Laozi

#100. I have three treasures that I cherish. The first is compassion. The second is moderation. The third is not claiming to be first in the world.

Laozi