When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.
LaoziRead
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.
Interpretation
True wisdom comes from self-awareness and personal growth, not just external achievements.
This quote by Laozi emphasizes the significance of understanding oneself and the profound journey of self-discovery over merely achieving power or knowledge about others. It highlights that real strength lies in overcoming personal limitations and maintaining one's values and goals, asserting that true wealth and legacy stem from inner satisfaction and enduring purpose rather than material success or external validation.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal development.
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.
He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty.
The best way to handle responsibility is to break it down into smaller parts. Take care of one small thing at a time.
When we renounce our dreams, we find peace and enjoy a brief period of tranquillity, but the dead dreams begin to rot inside us and to infect the whole atmosphere in which we live. What we hoped to avoid in the Fight -disappointment and defeat- become the sole legacy of our cowardice.
It's a great advantage not to drink among hard-drinking people. You can hold your tongue, and, moreover, you can time any little irregularity of your own so that everybody else is so blind that they don't see or care.
If a man does not work at necessary and good things, then he will work at unnecessary and stupid things
It isn't normal to know what we want. It is a rare and difficult psychological achievement.
I always remember an epitaph which is in the cemetery at Tombstone, Arizona. It says: 'Here lies Jack Williams. He done his damnedest.' I think that is the greatest epitaph a man can have - When he gives everything that is in him to do the job he has before him. That is all you can ask of him and that is what I have tried to do.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.