Quotes on Ifs

Do not make them (people) weary at their work. If you do not make them weary, they will not be weary of you.

A great country needs more people to serve it. A small country needs more people to serve. So, if both shall get what they need, the great country ought to yield.

If a great country yields to a small country, it will conquer the small country. If a small country yields to a great country, it will be conquered by the great country.

If princes and kings could follow it (Tao), all things would by themselves abide, Heaven and Earth would unite and sweet dew would fall. People would by themselves find harmony, without being commanded.

If people are not afraid of dying, why threaten them with death?

If people live in constant fear of death, and if breaking the law is punished by death, then who would dare?

If the sage wants to stand above people, he must speak to them from below. If he wants to lead people, he must follow them from behind.

The superior student listens to the Way and follows it closely. The average student listens to the Way and follows some and some not. The lesser student listens to the Way and laughs out loud. If there were no laughter it would not be the Way.

If Heaven were not clear it might rend. If Earth were not firm it might crumble.

If I have just an ounce of sense, I follow the great Way, and fear only to stray from it.

If Heaven and Earth are unable to persist, how could man?

The message of the summoned life is that you don't need to panic if you don't yet know what you want to do with your life. But you probably want to throw yourselves into circumstances where the summons will come.

If you're going to be a footballer, be a great one.If you're going to have a dream, dream big.

If anyone is unhappy, remember that his unhappiness is his own fault... Nothing else is the cause of anxiety or loss of tranquility except our own opinion.

If the English language had been properly organized ... then there would be a word which meant both 'he' and 'she', and I could write, 'If John or Mary comes heesh will want to play tennis', which would save a lot of trouble.

If you can't invent the future, the next best thing is to fund it.

If the gospel was of a nature to be propagated or maintained by the power of the world, God would not have intrusted it to fishermen. To defend the gospel appertains not to the princes and pontiffs of this world.

If your company disappeared, would it leave a gaping hole that could not easily be filled by any other enterprise on the planet?

Neurosis has an absolute genius for malingering. There is no illness which it cannot counterfeit perfectly. If it is capable of deceiving the doctor, how should it fail to deceive the patient

The true lover of learning then must his earliest youth, as far as in him lies, desire all truth.... He whose desires are drawn toward knowledge in every form will be absorbed in the pleasures of the soul, and will hardly feel bodily pleasures I mean, if he be a true philosopher and not a sham one ... Then how can he who has the magnificence of mind and is the spectator of all times and all existence, think much of human life He cannot. Or can such a one account death fearful No indeed.

Cowards never win victories. We have to fight fear and troubles and ignorance if we expect them to flee before us.