The Tao Quotes

#1. Force is followed by loss of strength. This is not the way of the Tao. That which goes against the Tao comes to an early end.

Laozi

#2. Though (the Tao) is uncreated itself, it creates all things. Because it has no substance, it can enter into where there is no space. Exercising by returning to itself, winning victories by remaining gentle and yielding, it is softer than anything, and therefore overcomes everything hard.

Laozi

#3. The Tao is unpredictable to those that live according to plans. Only those who have no agenda are in harmony with the Tao.

Laozi

#4. When the Superior Man eats he does not try to stuff himself; at rest he does not seek perfect comfort; he is diligent in his work and careful in speech. He avails himself to people of the Tao and thereby corrects himself. This is the kind of person of whom you can say, 'he loves learning.'

Confucius

#5. Scholars of the highest class, when they hear about the Tao, earnestly carry it into practice.

Lao-Tzu

#6. Understand this if nothing else: spiritual freedom and oneness with the Tao are not randomly bestowed gifts, but the rewards of conscious self-transformation and self-evolution.

Laozi

#7. The Tao is hidden, and has no name; but it is the Tao which is skilful at imparting (to all things what they need) and making them complete.

Lao-Tzu

#8. When the people of the world all know beauty as beauty, There arises the recognition of ugliness. When they all know the good as good, There arises the recognition of evil. - Lao Tzu, The Tao Te Ching

Scott Westerfeld

#9. 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

#10. The Tao is great. The universe is great. Earth is great. Man is great. These are the four great powers. Man follows the earth. Earth follows the universe. The universe follows the Tao. The Tao follows only itself.

Laozi

#11. When the ancient Masters said, "If you want to be given everything, give everything up," they weren't using empty phrases. Only in being lived by the Tao can you be truly yourself.

Laozi

#12. Then I did The Tao of Steve and that was at Sundance in 2000 where it did really well.

Donal Logue

#13. This is what is called 'The mysterious Quality' (of the Tao).

Lao-Tzu

#14. Can you let go of words and ideas, attitudes and expectations? If so, then the Tao will loom into view.

Laozi

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

Laozi

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

Laozi

#17. You will ride the Tao
toward the concrescence
and will be able to live in the light
of its anticipation.

Terence McKenna

#18. And perhaps this is what Tukten knows - that the journey to Dolpo, step by step and day by day, is the Jewel in the Heart of the Lotus, the Tao, the Way, the Path, but no more so than small events of days at home.

Peter Matthiessen

#19. Mind is knowledge, meditation is non-knowledge. Mind knows, meditation experiences. Mind can only give you a certain acquaintance but not the taste. If you want the taste of the Tao you have to move to no-mind, to Meditation.

Rajneesh

#20. For me art is a spontaneous journey on the crest of the Tao's wave,

David Jay Brown

#21. Man takes his law from the Earth; the Earth takes its law from Heaven; Heaven takes its law from the Tao. The law of the Tao is its being what it is.

Lao-Tzu

#22. When we can lay hold of the Tao of old to direct the things of the present day, and are able to know it as it was of old in the beginning, this is called (unwinding) the clue of Tao.

Lao-Tzu

#23. By this (nature of the Tao).

Lao-Tzu

#24. The amount that she loved us was beyond her reach. It could not be quantified or contained. It was the ten thousand named things in the Tao Te Ching's universe and then ten thousand more.

Cheryl Strayed

#25. Enlightenment is part of everything and so our minds have to be very big to encompass all things, to understand all things - To see the tao in a grape, the act of sexuality, meditation, work, play, taking a shower, brushing your teeth, being sick and hurting.

Frederick Lenz

#26. Without opening your door, you can open your heart to the world. Without looking out your window, you can see the essence of the Tao. The more you know, the less you understand. The Master arrives without leaving, sees the light without looking, achieves without doing a thing.

Laozi

#27. The Tao principle is what happens of itself.

Laozi

#28. If we rely upon the tao with which we're born, we always know what is the right thing to do in any situation, the good thing not for our bank accounts or for ourselves, but for our souls. We are tempted from the tao by self-interest, by base emotions and passions.

Dean Koontz

#29. Those who follow the Tao are of clear mind. They do not load their mind with anxieties and are flexible in their adjustment to external conditions.

Zhuangzi

#30. If you awaken to this moment, the here and now, then you will know that great peace is generated from a sense of being, and from a connection with the Tao. When you clearly understand and experience the Now, you can create your own happiness through your connection with the divine, your True Self.

Ilchi Lee

#31. The Tao has no place for pettiness, and nor has Virtue. Pettiness is dangerous to Virtue; pettiness is dangerous to the Tao. It is said, rectify yourself and be done.

Zhuangzi

#32. Hence (its way) is near to (that of) the Tao.

Lao-Tzu

#33. Find joy and solace in the simple, and cultivate your utopia by feeling the Tao in every cubic inch of space.

Wayne Dyer

#34. The Tao is (like) the emptiness of a vessel; and in our employment of it we must be on our guard against all fulness.

Lao-Tzu

#35. The master does his job and then stops. He understands that the universe is forever out of control, and that trying to dominate events goes against the current of the Tao.

Laozi

#36. The Tao is like a well; used but never used up.

Laozi

#37. The Tao that can be described is not the enduring and unchanging Tao.

Lao-Tzu

#38. Be in harmony with the Tao, with the basic principles of creation. To not be in harmony with that flow, no matter how hard you meditate, you will not be happy and you won't be liberated.

Frederick Lenz

#39. Chaos is not disorder. Chaos is the totality of existence. You could call it God. You could use the term, the Tao. I like chaos. It means more to us in English. Chaos is all things, wild and wonderful, connected perfectly by the life force.

Frederick Lenz

#40. When you study the Tao Te Ching, you have to use your heart to try to imagine what Tao really is.

Henry Chang

#41. Frequently we're asked to come in when the Tao is conflict and crisis. We encourage people to let that Tao happen and not repress it. Especially in new age circles, people just hate conflict and try to repress it.

Arnold Mindell

#42. But if you do not have the Tao yourself, what business have you spending your time in vain efforts to bring corrupt politicians into the right path?

Confucius

#43. Does one scent appeal more than another? Do you prefer this flavor, or that feeling? Is your practice sacred and your work profane? Then your mind is separated: from itself, from oneness, from the Tao.

Laozi

#44. Water is the softest of all things, yet it is the most powerful. The ocean patiently allows all things to flow into it. It is always flexible. The Tao is not about grasping, but allowing, like water.

Wayne Dyer

#45. He who devotes himself to the Tao (seeks) from day to day to diminish (his doing).

Lao-Tzu

#46. As it acts in the world, the Tao is like the bending of a bow. The top is bent downward; the bottom is bent up. It adjusts excess and deficiency so that there is perfect balance.

Laozi

#47. To find the Tao, there is nowhere you need to search. If it is not inside you, it is not the Tao.

Confucius

#48. (Those who) possessed in highest degree the attributes (of the Tao) did not (seek) to show them, and therefore they possessed them (in fullest measure).

Lao-Tzu

#49. The Tao of Jen was very much the Tao of hiding everything that didn't look good. The Tao of Jen is wearing a cocktail dress with underwear with holes in it. The Tao of Jen is all style and no substance.

Jen Lancaster

#50. The great Way is easy, yet people prefer the side paths. Be aware when things are out of balance. Stay centered within the Tao.

Laozi

#51. When there is no more separation between 'this' and 'that,' it is called the still-point of the Tao. At the still point in the center of the circle one can see the infinite in all things.

Zhuangzi

#52. If you can let go of (the Tao) with your mind and surround it with your heart, it will live inside you forever.

Laozi

#53. Many sections are taken up with political discussions and how the way of the ruler, the merchant, the householder, and the army interact with the Tao.

Frederick Lenz

#54. When your mind is empty of prejudices you can see the Tao. When your heart is empty of desires you can follow the Tao.

Lu Jun Hong

#55. If you want to accord with the Tao, just do your job, then let go.

Laozi

#56. True zazen is surrendering every moment. But surrendering to what? It really does not matter what we call it: God or the Tao or the Dharma or the Buddha or our true nature ... It is the act of letting go, of surrendering, that matters. The very act of letting go opens us up completely.

Dennis Merzel

#57. It would be misleading to say, 'I believe in the Force,' in the same sense that it would be misleading to say, 'I believe in the sun.' Give it whatever name you like - the Force, the Tao, the Holy Spirit, the Universal Mind - I see it in action everywhere I look, both in the world and in myself.

Matthew Stover

#58. The Tao that can be spoken is not the true Tao.

Laozi

#59. I'm a disciple of the Tao of Peter Parker, obviously,

Jim Butcher

#60. There's a source, there's a perennial source from which all things come forth. We call it the Godhead, Nirvana, the Tao, enlightenment. It's big; it's bright; it's perfect, as are all of its children, as are we.

Frederick Lenz

#61. (The Tao) is always present and always available ... If you are willing to be lived by it, you will see it everywhere, even in the most ordinary things.

Laozi

#62. A mystic sees beyond the illusion of separateness into the intricate web of life in which all things are expressions of a single Whole. You can call this web "God, the Tao, the Great Spirit, the Infinite Mystery, Mother or Father," but it can be known only as love.

Joan Z. Borysenko

#63. It is really impossible to appreciate what is meant by the Tao without becoming, in a rather special sense, stupid.

Alan W. Watts

#64. Lao Tsu says the way of life is ancient, timeless. It is existence which he calls the Tao - a mysterious source, beyond understanding, and all of us are a reflection, if not that source of life ourselves.

Frederick Lenz

#65. And if you don't know Which to Do Of all the things in front of you, Then what you'll have when you are through Is just a mess without a clue... - Winnie the Pooh in The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff

Iggy Fernandez

#66. Possessed of the Tao, he endures long; and to the end of his bodily life, is exempt from all danger of decay.

Lao-Tzu

#67. One of the things the 'Tao of Travel' shows is how unforthcoming most travel writers are, how most travelers are. They don't tell you who they were traveling with, and they're not very reliable about things that happened to them.

Paul Theroux

#68. The one who can dissolve her mind will suddenly discover the Tao at her feet ...

Laozi

#69. What is the Tao Te Ching? Five hundred years before the birth of Jesus, a God-realized being named Lao-tzu in ancient China dictated 81 verses which are regarded by many as the ultimate commentary on the nature of existence.

Wayne Dyer

#70. Yielding is the way of the Tao.

Laozi

#71. Do you think that you can clear your mind by sitting constantly in silent meditation? This makes your mind narrow, not clear. Integral awareness is fluid and adaptable, present in all places and at all times. That is true meditation ... The Tao is clear and simple, and it doesn't avoid the world.

Laozi

#72. Physicists have yet to find anything capable of exceeding our known speed of light. The Tao cannot be named, and so I say there is one thing that out-paces all things: we call it "thought." I can fill a room a with light before I'm anywhere near the switch.

Laurie Perez

#73. The Tao is always at ease. It overcomes without competing, answers without speaking a word, arrives without being summoned, accomplishes without a plan. Its net covers the whole universe. And though its meshes are wide, it doesn't let a thing slip through.

Laozi

#74. The Tao is near and people seek it far away.

Mencius

#75. Perhaps the most significant thing George Lucas did in creating 'Star Wars' was to fictionalize the Tao - to spark a universe where we can talk about the Force in objective terms and show it in direct action.

Matthew Stover

#76. Can you dissolve your ego? Can you abandon the idea of self and other? Can you relinquish the notions of male and female, short and long, life and death? Can you let go of all these dualities and embrace the Tao without skepticism or panic? If so, you can reach the heart of the Integral Oneness.

Laozi

#77. Worlds and particles, bodies and beings, time and space: All are transient expressions of the Tao.

Laozi

#78. When men lost their understanding of the Tao, intelligence came along, bringing hypocrisy with it.

Lao-Tzu

#79. Why is the tao so valuable? Because it is everywhere, and everyone can use it. This is why those who seek will find, And those who reform will be forgiven; Why the good will be rewarded, And the thief who is cunning will escape.

Laozi

#80. The Tao which you know is not the eternal Tao

Laozi

#81. The Tao's principle is spontaneity.

Laozi

#82. A person who prematurely believes that they comprehend the Tao sees only its external luster, and this is the beginning of delusion.

Lao-Tzu

#83. The Tao cannot be divided, it cannot be shared

Frederick Franck

#84. My own words are not the medicine, but a prescription; not the destination, but a map to help you reach it. When you get there, quiet your mind and close your mouth. Don't analyze the Tao. Strive instead to live it: silently, undividedly, with your whole harmonious being.

Laozi

#85. (So), he who has the attributes (of the Tao) regards (only) the conditions of the engagement, while he who has not those attributes regards only the conditions favourable to himself.

Lao-Tzu

#86. When I feel off, I read the 'Tao Te Ching' to get my equilibrium right. I started reading it in the eleventh grade.

Eddie Huang

#87. The Tao is in all things, in their divisions and their fullness. What I dislike about divisions is that they multiply, and what i dislike about multiplication is that it makes people want to hold fast to it. So people go out and forget to return, seeing little more than ghosts.

Zhuangzi

#88. The Tao of the sage is work without effort.

Laozi

#89. The first practice is the practice of undiscriminating virtue: take care of those who are deserving; also, and equally, take care of those who are not. When you extend your virtue in all directions without discriminating, you feet are firmly planted on the path that returns to the Tao.

Laozi

#90. Thus it was that when faith (in the Tao) was deficient (in the rulers) a want of faith in them ensued (in the people).

Lao-Tzu

#91. Without the tao, Kindness and compassion are replaced by law and justice; Faith and trust are supplanted by ritual and ceremony.

Laozi

#92. The tao is made because we walk it,things become what they are called.

Zhuangzi

#93. The Master views the parts with compassion, because he understands the whole. His constant practice is humility. He doesn't glitter like a jewel but lets himself be shaped by the Tao, as rugged and common as a stone.

Laozi

#94. Darkness, whether in mood or in night, is natural. So if we flow with the black bile of melancholia and endure the terrible darkness of depression, eventually we will break through into the light of joy. This is the Tao (the Way) of darkness or depression
this is the Mystery of its evolution.

Arnold Mindell

#95. A wall is a defense of a country that values inaction. But a wall imprisons the people of a country as much as it protects them. That's why Balthasar had us go this way. He wanted me to see the error in the Tao. One can't be free without action.

Christopher Moore

#96. Since before time and space were, the Tao is. It is beyond is and is not.

Laozi

#97. The critics often invent authors; they select two dissimilar works - the Tao Te Ching and the 1001 Nights, say - attribute them to the same writer and then determine most scrupulously the psychology of this interesting homme de lettres ...

Jorge Luis Borges

#98. The Tao belongs neither to knowing nor not knowing. Knowing is false understanding; not knowing is blind ignorance. If you really understand the Tao beyond doubt, it's like the empty sky. Why drag in right and wrong?

Alan Watts

#99. A well-frog cannot imagine the ocean, nor can a summer insect conceive of ice. How then can a scholar understand the Tao? He is restricted by his own learning.

Benjamin Hoff

#100. Attain complete emptiness,
Hold fast to stillness.
Understanding the ordinary:
Mind opens.
Mind opening leads to compassion,
Compassion to nobility,
Nobility to heavenliness,
Heavenliness to TAO.
TAO endures.
Your body dies.
There is no danger.

Lao-Tzu