Quotes by Lao Tzu

He who stands on tiptoe is not steady.
He who strides cannot maintain the pace.
He who makes a show is not enlightened.
He who is self-righteous is not respected.
He who boasts achieves nothing.
He who brags will not endure.

According to followers of the Tao, "These are extra food and unnecessary luggage."

They do not bring happiness, therefore followers of the Tao avoid them.

"Those who know don't talk.
 Those who talk don't know."

~Lao Tzu~

The living are soft and yielding;
the dead are rigid and stiff.
Living plants are flexible and tender;
the dead are brittle and dry.

Those who are stiff and rigid
are the disciple of death.
Those who are soft and yielding
are the disciples of life.

The rigid and stiff will be broken.
The soft and yielding will overcome.

Those who justify themselves do not convince.

We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.

To hold, you must first open your hand. Let go.

When you accept yourself, the whole world accepts you.

Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.

The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, we did it ourselves.

Tao is beyond words and beyond understanding. Words may be used to speak of it, but they cannot contain it. Tao existed before words and names, before heaven and earth, before the ten thousand things. It is the unlimited father and mother of all limited things. Therefore, to see beyond boundaries to the subtle heart of things, dispense with names, with concepts, with expectations and ambitions and differences. Tao and its many manifestations arise from the same source: subtle wonder within mysterious darkness. This is the beginning of all understanding.