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When virtue is lost, benevolence appears,
when benevolence is lost right conduct appears,
when right conduct is lost, expedience appears.
Expediency is the mere shadow of right and truth;
it is the beginning of disorder.
- Lao Tzu
He who talks more is sooner exhausted.
- Lao Tzu
He who is contented is rich.
- Lao Tzu 
To know yet to think that one does not know is best;
Not to know yet to think that one knows
will lead to difficulty.
- Lao Tzu
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Silence is a source of great strength.
- Lao Tzu
A good traveler has no fixed plans,
and is not intent on arriving.
- Lao Tzu
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
- Lao Tzu
To the mind that is still,
the whole universe surrenders.
- Lao Tzu
The words of truth are always paradoxical.
- Lao Tzu
By letting it go it all gets done.
The world is won by those who let it go.
But when you try and try.
The world is beyond the winning.
- Lao Tzu
One can not reflect in streaming water.
Only those who know internal peace can give it to others.
- Lao Tzu
He who knows others is wise.
He who knows himself is enlightened.
- Lao Tzu
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
- Lao Tzu (Chinese Proverb)
Treat those who are good with goodness,
and also treat those who are not good with goodness.
Thus goodness is attained.
Be honest to those who are honest,
and be also honest to those who are not honest.
Thus honesty is attained.
- Lao Tzu
The more laws and order are made prominent,
the more thieves and robbers there will be.
- Lao Tzu
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.
Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow.
Let reality be reality.
Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
- Lao Tzu
The power of intuitive understanding
will protect you from harm until the end of your days.
- Lao Tzu
Born to be wild - live to outgrow it.
- Lao Tzu
Be the chief but never the lord.
- Lao Tzu
Stay at the center
and let all things take their course.
- Lao Tzu
Great indeed is the sublimity of the Creative,
to which all beings owe their beginning
and which permeates all heaven.
- Lao Tzu
To realize that you do not understand is a virtue;
Not to realize that you do not understand is a defect.
- Lao Tzu
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength;
loving someone deeply gives you courage.
- Lao Tzu
If you realize that all things change,
there is nothing you will try to hold on to.
If you are not afraid of dying,
there is nothing you cannot achieve.
- Lao Tzu
I do not concern myself with gods and spirits
either good or evil, nor do I serve any.
- Lao Tzu
Health is the greatest possession.
Contentment is the greatest treasure.
Confidence is the greatest friend.
Non-being is the greatest joy.
- Lao Tzu
People in their handlings of affairs
often fail when they are about to succeed.
If one remains as careful at the end
as he was at the beginning,
there will be no failure.
- Lao Tzu
Do the difficult things while they are easy
and do the great things while they are small.
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
- Lao Tzu
How could man rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of men?
- Lao Tzu
To see things in the seed, that is genius.
- Lao Tzu
Can you let go of words and ideas,
attitudes and expectations?
If so, then the Tao will loom into view.
- Lao Tzu
The Master acts without doing, and everything gets done.
- Lao Tzu
The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white.
Neither need you do anything but be yourself.
- Lao Tzu
Great acts are made up of small deeds.
- Lao Tzu
Loving, hating, having expectations:
all these are attachments.
Attachment prevents the growth of one's true being.
- Lao Tzu
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."
- Lao Tzu
Truthful words are not beautiful;
beautiful words are not truthful.
Good words are not persuasive;
persuasive words are not good.
- Lao Tzu
At the center of your being you have the answer;
you know who you are and you know what you want.
- Lao Tzu
Yielding is the way of the Tao.
- Lao Tzu
To manage your mind,
know that there is nothing,
and then relinquish all attachment to nothingness.
- Lao Tzu
Those who have knowledge, don't predict.
Those who predict, don't have knowledge.
- Lao Tzu
If you would take, you must first give,
this is the beginning of intelligence.
- Lao Tzu
Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment.
- Lao Tzu
Freedom from desire leads to inner peace.
- Lao-Tzu
The career of a sage is of two kinds:
He is either honored by all in the world,
Like a flower waving its head,
Or else he disappears into the silent forest.
- Lao Tzu
A leader is best when people barely know he exists;
when his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
they will say: we did it ourselves.
- Lao Tzu
Do not attempt to conquer the world with force,
for force only causes resistance.
- Lao Tzu
All difficult things have
their origin in that which is easy,
and great things in that which is small.
- Lao Tzu
The key to growth is the introduction of
higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.
- Lao Tzu
Kindness in words creates confidence.
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love.
- Lao Tzu
Mastering others is strength.
Mastering yourself is true power.
- Lao Tzu
Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.
- Lao Tzu
If you do not change direction,
you may end up where you are heading.
- Lao Tzu
Without stirring abroad,
One can know the whole world;
Without looking out of the window,
One can see the way of heaven.
The further one goes, The less one knows.
- Lao Tzu
An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox.
- Lao Tzu
Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish.
Do not overdo it.
- Lao Tzu
Love is of all passions the strongest,
for it attacks simultaneously the head,
the heart and the senses.
- Lao Tzu
He who knows himself is enlightened.
- Lao Tzu
A tree that is unbending, is easily broken.
- Lao Tzu
The things of this world exist;
they are; you can't refuse them.
- Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching - Book One #2 - version by Ursula K. Le Guin
In the world there is nothing more
submissive and weak than water.
Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong,
nothing can surpass it.
- Lao Tzu
One who is too insistent on his own views,
finds few to agree with him.
- Lao Tzu
Be content with what you have,
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.
- Lao Tzu
When a nation is filled with strife,
then do patriots flourish.
- Lao Tzu
Be simply yourself and don't compare or compete.
- Lao Tzu
To love someone deeply gives you strength.
Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage.
- Lao Tzu
From wonder into wonder existence opens.
- Lao Tzu
From caring comes courage.
- Lao Tzu
He who obtains has little.
He who scatters has much.
- Lao Tzu
The wise man does not lay up his own treasures.
The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own.
- Lao Tzu
Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.
- Lao Tzu
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May the world be kind to you,
and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
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