It (Tao) is eternally without desire. So, it can be called small. All things return to it, although it does not make itself their ruler. So, it can be called great.
Interpretation
The Tao represents a state of being that is both humble and powerful, as it governs without controlling.
In this quote by Laozi, the Tao is described as something that embodies simplicity and selflessness, demonstrating that true greatness lies not in domination but in allowing things to flow naturally. The paradox of being both small and great highlights how true power comes from humility and adaptability rather than from exerting control or desire.
In practice
In a discussion on leadership styles, one might use this quote to emphasize the strength in humility.
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 felt that chess... is a science in the form of a game... I consider myself a scientist. I wanted to be treated like a scientist.
The main purpose of engaging in conversation can no longer be personal advancement or respectability. Instead, I'd like for us to use conversations to create equality, to open ourselves to strangers, and, most practically, to remake our working world.
Men are beginning to realize that they are not individuals but persons in society, that man alone is weak and adrift, that he must seek strength in common action.
The more we retreat from the culture at large the more room we will have to carve out lives of meaning, the more we will be able to wall off the flood of illusions disseminated by mass culture and the more we will retain sanity in an insane world.
In saving Tibet, you save the possibility that we are all brothers, sisters.
I was a westerner in Iran, an Iranian in the West. I had no identity. I didn't even know anymore why I was living.
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