Treat those who are good with goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained. Be honest to those who are honest, and be also honest to those who are not honest. Thus honesty is attained.
Interpretation
Treat everyone with goodness and honesty, regardless of their behavior, to cultivate these virtues in yourself.
This quote by Laozi emphasizes the idea that our actions should not be dependent on how others behave. By treating both the virtuous and the unvirtuous with goodness and honesty, we not only promote these qualities in others but also nurture them within ourselves. It suggests that responding with goodness and honesty creates a virtuous cycle, reinforcing positive behavior in our interactions.
In practice
During a speech about kindness, this quote can serve as a reminder to embrace compassion even for those who may not reciprocate.
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.
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Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.
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Rule your mind with serenity rather than with force and manipulation.
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Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them. To deny it, however, in this case, is to deny that there is a God governing the world. It is a truth which I thought needed to be told; and as whatever of humilation there is in it, falls most directly on myself, I thought others might afford for me to tell it.
I will tell you what is my overriding perception of the last twenty years: that we are a civilization careening toward a succession of anticlimaxes – toward an infinity of unsatisfying, and disagreeable endings.
Do you remember you shot a seagull? A man came by chance, saw it and destroyed it, just to pass the time.
Really high-minded people are indifferent to happiness, especially other people's.
For life is tendency, and the essence of a tendency is to develop in the form of a sheaf, creating, by its very growth, divergent directions among which its impetus is divided.
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