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.
Interpretation
Water symbolizes resilience and strength through adaptability and perseverance.
This quote by Laozi highlights the paradoxical nature of water as both meek and powerful. While water may appear weak and yielding, its ability to overcome obstacles and erode hard materials demonstrates that true strength often lies in resilience and adaptability. The quote suggests that softness can be a formidable force when it persists against rigid structures, encouraging a deeper understanding of strength and submission in various aspects of life.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming challenges, this quote can illustrate how we can be strong by being flexible.
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.
Rule your mind with serenity rather than with force and manipulation.
He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty.
My wife and I, unlike many intellectuals, spent five years working on assembly lines. We came to fully understand the criticisms of the industrial age, in which you are an appendage of a machine that sets the pace.
Everything happens kind of the way it's supposed to happen, and we just watch it unfold. And you can't control it. Looking back, you can't say, "I should've..." You didn't, and had you, the outcome would have been different.
I have outlasted all desire, My dreams and I have grown apart; My grief alone is left entire, The gleamings of an empty heart. The storms of ruthless dispensation Have struck my flowery garland numb, I live in lonely desolation And wonder when my end will come. Thus on a naked tree-limb, blasted By tardy winter's whistling chill, A single leaf which has outlasted Its season will be trembling still.
All work is an act of philosophy.
I bold it impossible, that the great monarchies of Europe can subsist much longer; they all affect magnificence and splendor.
To be poor does not mean you lack the means to extend charity to another. You may lack money or food, but you have the gift of friendship to overwhelm the loneliness that grips the lives of so many.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.