Laozi

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 ten thousand things flourish and then each returns to the root from which it came. Returning to the root is stillness. Through stillness each fulfils its destiny.

The True Person governs by emptying the heart of desire and filling the belly with food, weakening ambitions and strengthening bones.

Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish. Do not overdo it.

For one gains by losing And loses by gaining.

I do not concern myself with gods and spirits either good or evil nor do I serve any.

In the Golden Age, Rulers were unknown. In the following age Rulers were loved and praised. Next came the age When rulers were feared. Finally the age When rulers are hated.

Rule a kingdom as though you were cooking a small fish - don't overdo it.

The very highest is barely known._x000D_ _x000D_ Then comes that which people know and love,_x000D_ _x000D_ Then that which is feared,_x000D_ _x000D_ Then that which is despised._x000D_ _x000D_ Who does not trust enough will not be trusted.

My words are easy to understand and easy to perform,_x000D_ _x000D_ Yet no man under heaven knows them or practices them.

In the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired. In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped.

The new life created by the final integration is self-aware yet without ego, capable of inhabiting a body yet not attached to it, and guided by wisdom rather than emotion. Whole and virtuous, it can never die.

(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.

Understanding others is knowledge, Understanding oneself is enlightenment; Conquering others is power, Conquering oneself is strength.

Seeing the small is called Clarity._x000D_ _x000D_ Keeping flexible is called Strength._x000D_ _x000D_ Using the shining Radiance,_x000D_ _x000D_ You enter the Light,_x000D_ _x000D_ Where no harm can come to you._x000D_ _x000D_ This is called Enlightenment.

Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it. The soft overcomes the hard; the gentle overcomes the rigid. Everyone knows this is true, but few can put it into practice. Therefore the Master remains serene in the midst of sorrow. Evil cannot enter his heart. Because he has given up helping, he is people's greatest help. True words seem paradoxical.

Stay at the center and let all things take their course.

Simply see that you are at the center of the universe, and accept all things and beings as parts of your infinite body. When you perceive that an act done to another is done to yourself, you have understood the great truth.

. . . the mind is desperate to fix the river {of events} in place: Possessed by ideas of the past, preoccupied with images of the future, it overlooks the plain truth of the moment.

Be merciful, moderate, and modest.

The greatest teacher has nothing to say. He simply gives himself in service, and never worries.