First and last follow each other.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that beginnings and endings are intrinsically linked, highlighting the cyclical nature of life.
Laozi's quote, 'First and last follow each other,' emphasizes the interconnectedness of beginnings and endings in life's journey. It reflects the idea that every beginning has an inevitable ending, and every ending paves the way for new beginnings. This cyclical perspective encourages us to embrace change and continuity, reminding us that life is a series of transitions where one phase seamlessly leads into another.
In practice
In a motivational speech about embracing change, one might say this quote to illustrate the importance of viewing life transitions positively.
If you understand others you are smart._x000D_ If you understand yourself you are illuminated._x000D_ If you overcome others you are powerful._x000D_ If you overcome yourself you have strength._x000D_ If you know how to be satisfied you are rich._x000D_ If you can act with vigor, you have a will._x000D_ If you don't lose your objectives you can be long-lasting._x000D_ If you die without loss, you are eternal.
When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.
A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.
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.
Rule your mind with serenity rather than with force and manipulation.
I got interested in the American culture war back in 2004, and it's one of the only growth stocks I've ever invested in.
Bridge-players tell me that there must be some money on the game 'or else people won't take it seriously'. Apparently it's like that. Your bid - for God or no God, for a good God or the Cosmic Sadist, for eternal life or nonentity - will not be serious if nothing much is staked on it. And you will never discover how serious it was until the stakes are raised horribly high, until you find that you are playing not for counters or for sixpences but for every penny you have in the world.
Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist.
The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and intellectualization and, above all, by the 'disenchantment of the world.' Precisely the ultimate and most sublime values have retreated from public life either into the transcendental realm of mystic life or into the brotherliness of direct and personal human relations. It is not accidental that our greatest art is intimate and not monumental.
There is no sickness worse for me than words that to be kind must lie.
Men weren't really the enemy - they were fellow victims suffering from an outmoded masculine mystique that made them feel unnecessarily inadequate when there were no bears to kill.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.