Quotes on Taoism

A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.

Without stirring abroad, One can know the whole world; Without looking out of the window One can see the way of heaven. The further one goes The less one knows.

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.

Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy.

Those who have knowledge, don't predict. Those who predict, don't have knowledge.

Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.

Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment.

Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself.

Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.

Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.

Because of a great love, one is courageous.

But the transformation of consciousness undertaken in Taoism and Zen is more like the correction of faulty perception or the curing of a disease. It is not an acquisitive process of learning more and more facts or greater and greater skills, but rather an unlearning of wrong habits and opinions. As Lao-tzu said, "The scholar gains every day, but the Taoist loses every day.

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; in just the same way, you learn to love by loving.