Man, when living, is soft and tender; when dead, he is hard and tough. All animals and plants when living are tender and delicate; when dead they become withered and dry. Therefore it is said: the hard and tough are parts of death; the soft and tender are parts of life.
Interpretation
Life is characterized by softness and tenderness, while death represents hardness and toughness.
This quote by Laozi emphasizes the contrasting nature of life and death, depicting life as a state of softness and tenderness, reminiscent of the vitality found in living beings. Conversely, death is associated with hardness and desiccation, suggesting that the essence of life is marked by fragility and gentleness, while death brings about a stark and unyielding reality.
In practice
During a speech about the transient nature of life, this quote can illustrate the beauty of living.
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.
If one does away with the fact of the Resurrection, one also does away with the Cross, for both stand and fall together, and one would then have to find a new center for the whole message of the gospel.
I have no interest in romanticizing poor black people, having been one of them myself in our beloved hometown of Detroit.
If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.
Unhappiness. There are all kinds of unhappy people in the world. I suppose it would be no exaggeration to say that the world is composed entirely of unhappy people. But those people can fight their unhappiness with society fairly and squarly, and society for its part easily understands and sympathizes with such struggles. My unhappiness stemmed entirely from my own vices, and I had no way of fighting anybody.
Sometimes I knew in all my mind and heart why I had done what I had done, and I welcomed the sacrifice. But there were times too when I lived in a desert and felt no joy and saw no hope and could not remember my old feelings. Then I lived by faith alone, faith without hope. What good did I get from it? I got to have love in my heart.
No people is wholly civilized where a distinction is drawn between stealing an office and stealing a purse.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.